Tag: 100 Years Ago

21 APRIL 1925

During a disturbance in the native location at Bloemfontein the police fired a volley on a mob of 4,000. Four natives were killed. The ringleaders have been arrested, and the Citizen Force has been called up.

One Australian correspondent, in a review of Commonwealth affairs, refers to the disclosures regarding the losses of the Commonwealth shipping line, the loan requirements of the States, and the growth of the Communist agitation.

In the fighting against a hostile chief in Iraq a British aeroplane crashed, and two airmen were killed. A flying officer has also been killed in an accident near Shaibah, Iraq.

The Prince of Wales received various native chiefs at Ibadan, Nigeria, when scenes of great picturesqueness were witnessed.

A Sofia telegram announces that Minkoff, the alleged principal conspirator in the plot against the Government, has been killed while endeavouring to evade arrest.

The Soviet Government declined to take part in the International Conference on the Control of Arms and Munitions, which assembles at Geneva on May 4 next.

A revolution has broken out in Honduras.

Sir A. Maurice Low, the Washington correspondent of the Morning Post and The Economist, in another article on Prohibition refers to what he describes as its serious and tragical effects, so far as the American concept of law is concerned.

When passing through Paris on Friday en route for London, King George and Queen Mary are to lunch with President Doumergue.

The Swansea No. 1 Branch of the National Union of Railwaymen have passed a resolution in favour of a strike in the Great Western Railway Company enforces its proposals for a reduction of staff.

In a shipyard accident at Clydebank three men were fatally injured.

20 APRIL 1925

A section of the Lisbon garrison were involved in a revolutionary outbreak. The rising was suppressed after a bombardment, in which some hundred were wounded.

Hundreds of arrests of Communists have been made at Sofia. The victims of the Cathedral explosion were buried in one enormous grave.

Field-Marshal Von Hindenburg, in answer to questions put by Reuter’s correspondent, said the question of Republic or Monarchy is at present nowhere under discussion in German politics, that the question of the alteration of frontiers on the east must be settled by negotiations, that he had always spoken against warlike adventures, and that Germany was not even capable of waging a defensive war against one of her neighbours, who had each bigger standing armies than Germany had.

The Duke and Duchess of York have returned to London after a tour of over four and a half months in Africa.

Mr Ramsay MacDonald, at Penzance, said that there was a large section of the Tory party, especially the young Tories, who were men of great promise. When they faced the problem of a national policy the partition between them and the Socialists would be so thin that they might as well break it down and come over to the Socialist camp.

Sir Alfred Mond, speaking at Newport, Mon., said that Socialism as a political issue was as dead as mutton, and he found fault with the Government for taking no strenuous action regarding employment or anything else. Advocating co-operation between employers and employed, he told of a new experiment at his works, which was a combination of cost-sharing and profit-sharing, which was causing a remarkable improvement in output.

19 APRIL 1925

A military revolt took place in Lisbon involving numerous troops stationed in the city. The Portuguese Government said that it was attempting restore order and end the disturbances.

The Government said that those who didn’t pay income tax would receive police court summons.

18 APRIL 1925

The British airship R 33, after breaking from her moorings at Pulham, with 20 of a crew, and being driven across the North Sea to the Dutch coast, was safely navigated back to Pulham after being nearly 30 hours in the air.

Upwards of a hundred people were killed and many hundreds injured by the explosion of an infernal machine in the Cathedral Church at Sofia. Martial law has been proclaimed by the Bulgarian Government. The frontier has been closed, all transport stopped, and the arrest of Communists and others hostile to the present rulers of the country ordered.

A Paris telegram states that the new Ministry will present its declaration of policy to Parliament on Tuesday. Its fate both in the Senate and in the Chamber is dubious.

Dr. Stresemann, the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, declared in a speech at Hamburg, referring to the coming Presidential election, that the basis of their foreign policy could not be changed by a political vote on internal affairs.

A Cape Town telegram reports that there is a strong feeling in Natal favouring the secession of the Province from the Union. The anti-British policy of the present Nationalist Government is bitterly resented.

17 APRIL 1925

The British airship, R.33, broke from her moorings at Pulham in a squall. She carried a crew of twenty, and was driven across the North Sea by the gale.

Telegrams from various parts of England and Ireland report damage by severe gales.

M. Painleve has almost completed his Cabinet. He is Premier and Minister of War, M. Briand is Foreign Minister, and M. Caillaux, Minister of Finance.

A manifesto by the German Centre party says that the people behind von Hindenburg’s candidature are aiming at the restoration of the Monarchy, and are thus not only leading up to civil war, but, if they succeed, will plunge Germany into fresh international difficulties.

Reports from Bulgaria are of a disquieting character. Another Deputy has been murdered in the streets of Sofia, and at a memorial service for the assassinated General Gheorghieff an infernal machine exploded, killing and injuring many persons. These crimes, as well as the unsuccessful attempt on the life of King Boris, are regarded as the work of Communists.

The Chinese Foreign Office has replied to the British, French, and American Notes of protest against the flotation of a new internal loan.

Prince Henry got a fall at the Crawley and Horsham Hunt Steeplechases at West Grinstead, but was unhurt. His horse, Ocean III., had to be destroyed.

Ulster Parliament, for the first time in its history, had a debate on party lines.

16 APRIL 1925

Lagos gave the Prince of Wales a great welcome when he landed there. He afterwards left for Iddo, en route for Kano, on the frontier of French West Africa.

MR John Sargent, R.A., the famous portrait painter, is dead.

A motor car in which King Boris of Bulgaria was travelling was ambushed on the road to Sofia. M. Ilchieff, Chief of the Entomological Museum, and a servant were killed and the driver wounded. The King’s escape has been hailed with delight and relief in Sofia.

M. Painleve has accepted the task of forming a French Cabinet. It is reported that M. Caillaux will be given the portfolio of Finance.

According to a Berlin telegram, the German Nationalists believe that there is every possibility of Field-Marshal von Hindenburg being elected President of the Reich.

The unloading and assembling of the planes of the Amundsen Polar Expedition will begin as soon as the Farm and the Hobby, now at the edge of the ice in King’s Bay, Spitzbergen, can reach the shore. The expedition will then move to a new base, from which the flight to the Pole will be made as soon as good weather is forecast.

In his attempt to fly to the North Pole Captain Roald Amundsen is to have a rival in Mr. Gretir Algaitsson, who proposes to make the flight in a non-rigid airship, starting from a point north of Spitzbergen.

To a request of the Italian Government for delimitation of the frontier between Egypt and Tripoli according to the Milner-Scialoja agreement, the Egyptian Government is reported to have replied that it cannot accept determination of the frontier according to an agreement made with a foreigner in which it did not participate.

Mr William C. Leonard, presiding at Dumfries at the 28th annual Scottish Trades Union Congress, pleaded for a shorter working week.

15 APRIL 1925

M. Briand abandoned the task of forming a French Ministry after the refusal of the Socialists to be represented. M. Painleve, President of the Chamber, has again been invited by President Doumergue to form a Cabinet.

A memorandum, issued by the Empire Development Union, dealing with unemployment and the peril of British industry, states that if the British race is ever to recover its lost supremacy immediate and drastic action along Imperial lines must be taken by Great Britain.

At the first sitting of the new Ulster Parliament, Mr. Hugh O’Neill was elected Speaker. The State opening takes place to-day.

To a resolution moved at the Independent Labour party’s conference at Gloucester protesting against Mr. Austen Chamberlain’s refusal to submit the question of the Zinoviev letter to independent arbitration, an amendment was moved regretting that the late Foreign Secretary, Mr. MacDonald, authorised Mr. Gregory’s reply to the letter before he was completely satisfied of its authenticity. Defending Mr. MacDonald in his absence, the president of the conference, Mr. Allen, said that he did not authorise the letter. The amendment was withdrawn and the resolution carried.

14 APRIL 1925

A message from the Amundsen expedition records the arrival of the transport farm at Spitzbergen after encountering fog and drift ice. Weather forecasts have held good, and the meteorological service aboard is operating satisfactorily.

M. Briand has not yet formed a Cabinet. A message from Paris last evening says that M. Briand appears to have resolved to do his utmost to form a Government in the national interest, even should the Socialists refuse to allow their Parliamentary leaders to serve in his Cabinet.

Two important Franco-German diplomatic instruments were signed in Paris for the purpose of confirming certain frontier modifications imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.

Sir A. Maurice Low, the Washington correspondent of the Morning Post and The Scotsman, describes the spread of the drug habit among young people in the United States since the passage of the Prohibition Law.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held as unconstitutional the compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes.

The condition of Mr. Massey, the New Zealand Premier, is reported to be critical.

The circumstances attending the recovery of the body of the lost climber on Ben Achalader are described. Some importance is attached locally to a clairvoyant’s description of where the body was to be found.

At the I.L.P. Conference Mr. Ramsay MacDonald replied to criticism from within the party of the work of the late Socialist Government.

MR. J. Ramsay MacDonald, addressing a meeting at Staple Hill, Gloucestershire, criticised the suggested relief in income-tax in the forthcoming Budget.

13 APRIL 1925

M. Briand has been offered the French Premiership.

The Earl of Balfour has left Beyrout for Alexandria. Twelve gendarmes were wounded in the Damascus riots, as well as a rioter and a carriage-driver.

Sir Thomas Hutchinson, Bart., ex-Lord Provost of Edinburgh, died suddenly in Edinburgh from a seizure, which occurred while he was on his way to attend the forenoon service at St. Giles’.

The body of the climber who went amissing on Ben Achallader has been found at an altitude of 3060 feet.

It was announced that, owing to plague restrictions, the visit of the Prince of Wales to Nigeria had been cancelled. The announcement caused intense disappointment in Nigeria, and it has since been decided to carry out practically the full programme, although the landing will probably be made at Port Harcourt instead of Lagos.

The Panchan Lama, or Living Buddha, received in audience at Peking 500 representatives of the world’s most important religions.

The Independent Labour party Conference opened at Gloucester. There was some criticism of the National Council in reference to the Zinoviev letter affair and complaint that nothing had been done by the committee of inquiry set up by the party. The critics succeeded in carrying the reference back of a clause in the report relating to the matter. Later, after rebuking Mr. Shinwell, who raised the question whether it was not a vote of censure on the Council, the Chairman assured the Conference everything was being done to probe the matter. Confirming this, Mr. Maxton, a member of the committee, declared that there had been no desire on Mr. MacDonald’s part to prevent searching inquiry.

12 APRIL 1925

It was announced that the King and Queen would be in residence at Windsor Castle from the middle of May until Ascot.

The King of the Belgians confirmed that he would ask one of the socialist leaders to form a Government.

It was reported that there was one official for every thirteen taxpayers in Germany.