Tag: 100 Years Ago

4 JUNE 1925

The Prince of Wales’s visit to Durban was marked by scenes of great enthusiasm. The town was en fête, and there were several functions in the Prince’s honour in the course of the day.

The Prime Minister, receiving the freedom of Dundee, made an appeal to the citizens to work for a fairer city in the years to come, which would be an example to the world and a happy home and heritage for her children and children’s children. The splendid site on which Dundee stood, said Mr Baldwin, should stimulate them to see that the newer city was worthy of that site for all the people.

Contracts amounting to nearly £3,500,000 have been placed in Great Britain for the new cruisers and submarines for the Royal Australian Navy.

A spread of the anti-foreign riots at Shanghai is reported, and further encounters between patrols and rioters have resulted in a number of deaths. British sailors have been landed, and a number of foreign residents rescued from positions of danger.

Inquiries regarding the new Industrial Alliance proposed by the Miners’ Federation show that none of the Unions is prepared to bind itself to an alliance without further consultation and consideration.

By 147 to 37, the Canadian House of Commons rejected a Protectionist motion by Mr Meighen designed to define the tariff issue on which the Conservatives of the Dominion will base their main appeal at the next General Election.

3 JUNE 1925

The King’s Birthday Honours list contains no new peerage, but Baron Bearsted becomes a Viscount. Eight baronetcies are conferred.

The report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the difficulties in carrying out the provisions of the Rent Restrictions Acts in some districts in Scotland was issued.

The Allies’ Note on disarmament will be presented to the German Government tomorrow. Its publication at the end of the week, followed within a few days by the report of the experts on Germany’s treaty default, is expected. France has completed the draft of a Note to Germany on the proposed guarantee pact. She has accepted the British view.

Amundsen’s colleagues on the Farm at Wellman’s Bay, Spitsbergen, have given up hope of seeing him return by aeroplane, and patrolling of the ice-edge will begin tomorrow. The view is held that the machines were probably damaged on landing at the Pole, and that the airmen have set out for Cape Columbia on foot.

The Duke of York welcomed 700 American and Canadian medical men, who are visiting this country and the Continent under the auspices of the Inter-State Post-Graduate Assembly of America.

Further disturbances have occurred at Shanghai, where the position is serious, and a Note from the Chinese Government protesting against the action of the police in suppressing the riots by force has only served to encourage the agitators, who are being openly incited by Bolshevist agents.

All nine accused charged at Cairo with the murder of the late Sirdar, Sir Lee Stack, have been found guilty.

A police raid was made on a Communist Conference of women at St Mungo Hall, Glasgow. Each delegate was questioned, but no arrests were made.

2 JUNE 1925

The Premier, speaking at Welbeck Abbey, said the Government were in complete agreement with the principal recommendations of the Food Commission, and they proposed to set up a Food Council charged with the duty of watching prices and supplies. Parliament would be asked for compulsory powers if experience showed this to be necessary.

The French Prime Minister, speaking at Strasbourg, declared that the two questions which dominated all others were those of stability and security. The Government would spare no effort to secure them.

Two foreign delegates, despite the ban placed upon them by the Home Office, made a dramatic appearance at the Communist Congress in Glasgow.

It is stated that the Communists arrested in Cairo on Sunday were receiving orders and money from a prominent English Bolshevist.

There was another collision between Chinese strikers and the police at Shanghai. The crowd, numbering several thousands, attacked the small force of police, who were compelled to fire. There were several casualties.

At the Conference of the British Legion a resolution favouring compulsory employment of disabled ex-Service men was carried.

Trade conditions generally were discussed at a meeting of Leith Chamber of Commerce.

A conference convened by the Miners’ Federation for the purpose of forming an alliance with the railwaymen and transport workers will be held in London on Thursday.

1 JUNE 1925

The Ambassadors’ Conference agreed on the text of the Allied Note to Germany on the disarmament question, which was afterwards dispatched to Berlin. Complete agreement is said to exist between London and Paris on all essentials concerning a security pact.

The police fired on a crowd of anti-Japanese rioters at Shanghai, seven of whom were killed and four severely wounded.

According to Johannesburg reports, the ballot being taken by the Miners’ Union in the Transvaal is likely to favour a strike.

M. Rakovsky, the Soviet Chargé d’Affaires in London, is stated to have received a threatening letter. His headquarters have been placed under police protection.

President Coolidge, urging in his Memorial Day address at Washington the better enforcement of the law in America, drew an unfavourable comparison of the crime record of the United States with that of Great Britain and other older countries.

Lord Oxford and Asquith have been appointed Knights of the Garter.

31 MAY 1925

The King and Queen formally opened the new Great West Road, claimed to be one of the finest highways in the world. The aim was to provide a new route from London to the West  and avoided the use of the bottle neck at Brentford.

A plot was uncovered to assassinate the Bolshevik revolutionary Christian Rakovsky in London.

Five men were burned in an explosion at the Darton Main Colliery in Barnsley.

30 MAY 1925

According to a French semi-official statement, the British Note regarding the French reply to the German Security Pact proposals gives entire satisfaction to the French contentions on essential points.

Following a debate in the Chamber of Deputies, a vote of confidence was passed in the French Government on the Moroccan question.

The Prince of Wales was acclaimed by thousands of Basutos at a pitso at Maseru. He was welcomed by the Paramount Chief, and, after listening to addresses, presented a gold-mounted walking-stick to the Paramount Chief and silver-mounted sticks to several other native leaders.

In several districts of New South Wales serious damage has been caused by floods.

Mr Alan J. Cobham, flying from Croydon to Zurich and back in the course of a single day, and without a stop on either journey, set up a record for light aeroplanes. The speed of his machine was about 80 miles an hour, and the petrol consumption 54 gallons.

After describing the wants in the Liberal movement, Mr Lloyd George, speaking at a meeting of the Welsh Liberal Association at Swansea, emphasised the need of breaking down land monopoly.

Following negotiations between the representatives of the National Federation of Building Trades’ Operatives and the Middle Ward Committee of the Lanarkshire County Council as to the erection of 100 steel houses of the Weir type, the former decided that the operatives employed on the brick-building schemes in the district should be withdrawn.

29 MAY 1925

The Poor Law Emergency Provisions Continuance (Scotland) Act, the Importation of Pedigree Animals Act, and the Rent Restriction Continuation Act received the Royal Assent in the House of Lords. The Law Agents (Scotland) Bill was read a third time and passed.

Before rising for Whitsuntide, the House of Commons disposed of the Liberal vote of censure on the Speaker, rejecting it by an overwhelming majority. Unionists and Socialists voted solidly against the motion.

The Home Secretary stated in the House of Commons that alien delegates to a Communist conference to be held in Glasgow would be refused admission if found arriving at British ports, and any landing without permission would be deported.

Mr J. Ramsay MacDonald, M.P., received the freedom of Edinburgh.

The Court Circular announces that knighthoods were conferred by the King yesterday on Mr Justice Bateson and Mr Justice Wright.

In the French Chamber, M. Painlevé, the Premier, explained the policy of the Government in regard to Morocco.

28 MAY 1925

By 264 votes to 81, the House of Commons decided to adopt the report of the Barnes Committee on the claims of the professional ex-ranker officers to increased pensions. In a discussion of Mr Sidney Webb’s motion on the overlapping and consequent costliness of local administrative bodies, the Minister of Health announced the Government’s determination to press forward with the reform of the Poor Law as soon as possible and to circulate a draft Bill among local authorities.

The Unionist campaign in the Ayr Burghs by-election opened with a meeting addressed by Captain Elliot, Under-Secretary of Health for Scotland. Mr W. M. R. Pringle was adopted as the Liberal candidate. The Budget is the issue upon which the election will be mainly fought.

Lord Oxford spoke on the future of Liberalism at a luncheon held in his honour at the National Liberal Club, London.

27 MAY 1925

In the House of Lords the Poor Law Emergency Provisions Continuance (Scotland) Bill was read a second time.

The House of Commons discussed a Vote of £96,000,000 for the Ministry of Pensions. Complaints were heard against the administration of the Department and against the system of final awards, both of which, however, found supporters. Replying to the debate, the Minister of Pensions said that, like their predecessors in office, the Government intended to maintain the essential principles of the Warrant and the Pensions Act. They could not alter the present system of final awards.

The Queen celebrated her 58th birthday. A family luncheon was held at Buckingham Palace.

Impressive scenes were witnessed at the funeral service of the late Earl of Ypres at Westminster Abbey.

A critical position has arisen in Scotland over the erection of Weir steel houses.

Sir John Gilmour, Secretary for Scotland, opened the new sanatorium at East Fortune, Haddingtonshire. The sanatorium is the result of a combined effort by the seven south-eastern counties of Scotland.

Consideration of the Allotments Bill was completed by a Standing Committee of the House of Commons.

M. Caillaux, the French Minister of Finance, foreshadows heavy taxation for a number of years.

M. Berger, an official of the French Royalist organisation Action Française, was assassinated in Paris.

26 MAY 1925

In the House of Lords a debate took place on the growth of Civil Service expenditure.

The Finance Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons by 331 votes to 139.

The Mental Deficiency Amendment Bill passed Committee stage and was read a third time in the House of Commons.

Mr Baldwin, broadcasting an Empire Day message from 2LO, said it should be the ambition of all to pay at least one visit, however brief, to Britain overseas.

An account is given of the steps taken by the Egyptian police to track the alleged murderers of the Sirdar.

The Duke of Northumberland has been appointed a Knight of the Garter.

The Right Honourable Sir John Baird, C.M.G., D.S.O., has been created a Baron.