St. John's Daily Star, 1919-06-06

              The St. John's Daily Star  Our sivcrctsc vduy Circulation, May, 7,ts!£S Newfoundland THE WE A THER Probs: S. to S. W. Winds; Fair)] VOLUME V. ($3.00 per Annum)  FRIDAY, JUNE 6. 1919. (PRICE: One Cent.) No.. 128 Government Use Governor's Speech From Throne To Make Official Defence Of Reid-Nfld. System HAWKER AS TALKER IS GOOD AVIATOR American Navy Officers' Comment on Englishman's Speech DANIELS IS MUM U, S. Naval Secretary ' Won't Talk on London Dinner Incident c WASHINGTON, May 29.—1n navy circle's there was undisguised resentment of the slurs cast upon the jliaht of Li :ul -Commander Read and hi* crew by Harry G. Hawker, the Australian navigator, who failed in his daring attempt to cross in a Sopv.ith land machine. No responsible official would" permit himself to be quoted in reply, beyond the remark that "1 lawker is a better, flyer than he is a. talker." Secretary Daniels said he retained his admiration of Hawkers audacity and courage in attempting to cross the Atlantic in a single flight but he.desired to make no comment on Hawker's disparaging remarks of the American navy's flight. The point was made by a number of navy men that the department never had favored the policy of staking everything on a single bold trial v-hen failure meant the probable death ol the aviators, but had calmly determined to go at the undertaking in successive steps, abandoning the ds adopted on the initial trial cnly when it had been demonstrated they were" no longer necessary. Praise of Hawker's attempt is as ungrudging as ever, but he probably has lost much of his reputation in !i!e American navy as a good sportsman by the remarks attributed to him in this morning's despatches from London. SHE'S PROUD OF READ, TRANSOCEAN FLYER Shniltag with pride at the sueeess of Commander Albert C. Read Df the NC4 in first piloting an airplane across the Atlantic. Mrs. Read posed for this picture in her Washington home. "I knew Albert would do it." says Mrs. Read. $25,000 Prize to Fly From New York to Paris New Yo/k, May 29.—A prize of $25,000 for a non-stop air flight from New York to Paris ,or vice versa has been offered by Raymond Orteig, proprietor of two hotels here, it was announced tonight by the Aero Club of America, through which Mr. Orteig made his offer. Aviators of any nationality are eligible to compete. The offer will stand for five years, Mr. Orteig said. The distance between New York and Paris is about 3,600 miles. ■ ■ The s.s. Sagona, two days from Sydney, has arrived to the R.N. Co. HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY SESSION IS CLOSED "Long Parliament" Yesterday Became Thing of Past GOVERNOR'S SPEECH List of Legislation Put Through During Last Two Months VESTERDA 'afternoon the curtain rang down on the performances of the most cordially detested legislature that, without exception, ever cursed this country with its enactments, and strange to say, that Mr. Morine, whose name will be forever associated with a hated government, it also involved in this one. There was the customary display of mounted police, soldiery etc. in the grounds but, alas there were few to witness the show. Not more than a dozen spectators were seen in the legislative chamber, including three or four ladies, who had seats inside the bar. When the house of assembly open ed at 3.30 only one opposition mem ber, Mr. Halfyard, appeared, the government benches were filled. A petition or two was presented and certain amended bills were read a first and second time and passed. This was all done in a perfunctory manner, as much as to say "Oh, let us get through, with it." At four o'clock the members of the assembly were summoned to the upper house to hear the speech from the throne, and to go through the formalities which usually attend such a function as the closing of the house. The hon. the speaker, Mr. Higgins read a joint resolution from both houses wherein appreciation was expressed for the valiant services rendered the country by our soldier and sailor lads, and a glad welcome home extended them. His excellency was requested to submit the resolutions to the proper authorities. In a few graceful and well chosen words his excellency acknowledged the token of appreciation, and referred to the gallantry of our boys. He said he would not only submit the resolutions to the local authorities but that he would also send them across the Atlantic to the authorities in the old country. His excellency then read the speech from the throne after which the bills passed during the session being brought to a close were read. To each of these his excellency gave assent. Prorogation Announced After the reading of the bills the president, Sir Patrick McGrath, announced the prorogation of the legislature till July 23rd next, unless some unforseen event in the meantime should make it necessary to again make it necessary to again convene the assembly. Squads from the constabulary, Royal Newfoundland Regiment, C.L. B. and Highlanders were present. The C. L. B. band was also in attendance. When his excellency the governor accompanied by Capt. Hamilton, P. S., and Lieut. A. Baird, A.D.C., pre ceded by Head Const. Noseworthy and Sergt. Savage, of the Royal Nfld. Mounted police, reached the front of the Colonial Building, the C.L.B. band played the national anthem. Occupying prominent positions near the throne, beside the A.D.C's. were the sheriff, Lt. Cols. Bernard and Rendell of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and officers of H. M. S. Briton. The governor's speech was as fol lows: Mr. President and Honorable Gentletlemen of the Legislative Council: Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Honorable Howe of Assembly: The circumstances in which this session of the legislature is closed are entirely different from those which were anticipated when I opened it 4m the 4th April. The events which led to the change are so recent and well-known that it is unnecessary to refer to them further; but they have enabled my new ministers to put forward some measures of pressing importance. The assiduity with which you have discharged your parliamentary duties enables mc to release you from sessional attendance after the completion of*a large amount of legislation of importance and usefulness. Explosion Killed 100 Derailed Electric Car Sets Off Powder in Wilkesbarre Factory Wilksbarre, June s—From seventy-five to one hundred miners were killed and many injured here to-day when a car of Hack powder attached to a train of cars on which the men were riding exploded. An electric motor drew the cars, and when the trolley wire broke sparks ignited the powder. MONSTER PLANE GETS INTO SHAPE Big Handley-Page Will Soon Be Ready For Trial Flight (Special to The Daily Star.) JJARBOUR GRACE, June 6. — The Handley-Page machine is nearing completion, and barring unforeseen delay should be ready for trial flight by Monday afternoon. There seems to be an opinion abroad that trial flight will take place tomorrow, but there does not appear good grounds for it. All the heavy work has been completed, and the engines are being: given the finishing touches after which they will be inspected by the Rolls-Royce expert, Mr. Platford, and j then given stationary test before trial flight. The Handley-Page is by far the biggest of its class so far to enter for the trans-Atlantic flight, and is undoubtedly a machine perfected in! every essential for the great undertaking it has ahead of it. The work j of erection has been done under the direction of most skilled experts in the service of the company behind the venture, and no expense has been considered too great to attain perfection in all its parts, and the smallest detail has received the careful supervision of the best mechanician! in aeroplane construction which Great Britain has produced. Huge Machine. Compared with the single engined biplanes of the Sopwith and Martinsyde type this four-engined, fourpropellored "trans-Atlantic" is a monster, the elephant of trans-atlantic aeroplanes. There seems an atmosphere of confidence around the whole undertaking and there is no cne connected with the adventure who entertains the least misgivings as to the success thereof. They have selected an ideal place for the take-off. The field is about a half-mile long and over two hundred yards wide. It slopes gradually towards the sea, its gradient befng eastward about three per cent. The field is pretty level and the work of preparation has given a fairly firm and smooth surface. No difficulty is anticipated in the matter of starting as the plane has a good clear way with either easterly or westerly wind. Big Hangar. A huge hangar has been imported and erected. It is 130 feet long, 80 feet wide, 40 feet high, 30,000 feet square, and weighs 27 tons. It is the Alban Richards portable hangar and huge as it is it barely covers the "transatlantic." The trial flight will extend to St. John's, where the machine will fly for some time over the j city and return to Harbor Grace. Last night the officers and mechanicians were entertained at a banquet by the Knights of Columbus in the Irish Hall. The program included music, songs and toast list, which were gone through with a high degree of credit to the participants. After the banquet the majority of the guests attended a concert which was tendered the returned soldiers in the British Hall. Weather has been ideal the past few days and good progress has been made. ■ » WEATHER PROBS γ-iimjbiiw ■  Toronto (noon)—Moderate south and south west winds, mostly fair today and Saturday, 'with a few scattered showers. Roper & Thompson's (noon). •— B*r_ 2935:: Ther.. 67. AT LOGGERHEADS OVER AERODROME I Handley-Page Expedition Refuses to Share Field AIRMEN ANGERED Action Ascribed to Fear Lest Competitor Would Get Away First (Special to The New York Times.) fighting spirit enters today for the first time into the trans-Atlantic air race. It results from the telegram received this morning by Captain John Alcock, pilot of the Vicker*. Vimy bomber, signed by Rear Admiral Kerr, and refusng the use of the j Handley-Page Harbor Grace field to either the Vickers or Bouton-Paul airplanes, the latter of which is not yet I here, until the Handley-Page machine is through with the field. The telegram adds that subsequent users must bear the entire expense of preparing the airdrome, though they cannot use it until it becomes useless to the original occupants. This expense is understood to be about $20,000. Coming as the first rift in the spirit of co-operaton maintained from the beginning, not only among the various British expeditions but even between the British and the American aspirants for flying honors, this telegram was a great shock to all the aviators here. They explain that the contest thus far has been one among flying craft with the spirit of  the best man win" pervading all contestants, while the refusal of the Handley-Page expedition to let the Vimy bomber team start from their field until they themselves are ac-j tually in the air and away introduces an entirely new element into the! Made Agreement. In the matter of advance arrange-] ments and other purely commercial details it was only yesterday that a subordinnate Handley-Page official offered to permit the Vimy men to share die field at once, provided they would divide the expense of preparation, and this proposition was regarded as fair and liberal and an evidence of the same good sportsman-, ship which has led every man on the ground here cheerfully to give any help in his power to his rival. Admiral Kerr's veto of this offer is frankly interpreted, not only by Vimy men but by the «ncr aviators and their aids here, as meaning that the Handley-Page expedition is afraid to give the Vimy a chance to get into the air first. They declare flatly that any that might come to the Handley-Page men being the first to get across will be dimmed forever if they gain that victory by taking advantage of other English* men, who are comparatively helpless in a strange land, and that a first crossing by the Handley-Page, due to the inability of one of its competitors to get a starting place in time, would be a far less achievement than a success won in a free-for-all, where no :ontestant had done the slightest hing to hinder any other. "Means a Figh*." "This means a fight, and the glory jf getting there first will be all the" greater for us now, if we can make] t," was the reply the Vimy men exaressed their reaction at this unexjected set-back this afternoon. Furhermore, they insisted that at all cost he attitude of the HandleyrPage vould by no means be permitted to lelay -heir get-away, and that by tonorrow they would be in a position iefinitely to announce how they had urct'.ded in surmounting the diffi-, :ulty. Alcock and his navigator, Lieuten-, »nt A. W. Brown, are thoroughly dis;usted with their experiences here. ?irst they were met with an unheard)f and exorbitant demand for the lerodrome at Mount Pearl abandonid by the Sopwith expedition after rlawker and Grieve had departed. 7or this comparatively poor piece of and the owners wanted $2,000 rent intil June 15, and after that $250 a iay. Next Alcock was confronted tfith a demand for $20,000 for a bit )f meadow land at Harbor Grace, )nd now he runs into what :he aviators here characterise as aj THE SCHEMER WOMAN WOULD FIT. Miss Kirston Seeks Seat in the Vbny Machine. St. John's, Nfld., May 31—While the Vimy-Vickers, Handley-Page and Martinsyde entries in the London Daily Mail's $50,000 transatlantic flight contest labored today get their machines In shape for a "hopolT," the aviators were startlec* by receipt of a request from a  girl, Miss May Kirston, of Efdheim, Perm., that she be carried overseas as a passenger in the Vimy-Vickers bomber to be piloted by Captaii Jack Alcock. While he did not commit $iimsel£ as to what would have been his answer if his machine had been larger, Alcock announced he would have to disappoint Miss Kirston, as his plane was only a two-seat ;r. AIRMEN AMUSE CROWD Messrs. Lai. Parsons and Matthews flew from Riverdale in Ericson machines and for half an hour entertained the people with all manner of stunts; nose dives, cork-screws, tail spins and loop-the-loops. Mr. Parsons, flying in a mac'nine with "Oh, Boy" painted in huge black letters on its body, dropped twenty thousand leaflets with the following printed on them: "Help the Women on Friday." As the night came on the flyers ceased their stunting and flew back to their hangars.—Toronto paper. (During the drive in Canada for the great war veterans, the repatriation committee, the V.M.C.A. for $1,500,000, the airmen did some advertising. The Parsons mentioned is a son of Edward Parsons, Esq., M.H. A., of Harbor Grace.) MUST MAKE UP REVENUE Public Revenue of Canada is Short By Seventeen Million Dollars, Finance Minister Says. BUSINESS PROFITS TAX IS MAINTAINED ATTAWA, June s.—Sir Thomas White delivered his budget speech today. In his tariff proposal he referred to the fact that under the customs' tariff revenue act, 1915, a British preferential tariff rate of five per cent, and an intermediate and general tariff rate of seven and a »half per cent, was imposed with certain exceptions. We propose, he said, to wholly repeal this British tariff rate of five per cent.; further we propose to; partially repeal the intermediate and1 general tariff rate of seven and onehalf per cent, by making it no longer applicable to the following classes of articles: Foodstuffs, linen and cotton clothing, woolen clothing, boots; and shoes, fur caps and fur cloth] ing, hats, caps, hoods and bonnets, gloves and mitts, collars and cuffs, • hides, skins, leather harness and saddlery agricultural implements, petroleum oils, mining machinery and bituminous coal. Redaction of Duty Sir Thomas announced that. provision will be made for a reduction of five cents per pound in the British preferential intermediate and general tariff rates on roasted or ground coffee and three cents per pound under the British preferential tariff on British teas. Provision will be made for the free importation into Canada of wheat, wheat flour and potatoes from countries which do not impose a customs duty on such articles ! grown or produced in Canada. He announced an alteration in the rates on soda ash from five per cent, under the British preferential tariff and seven and a half per cent, under the general tariff to a fifth of a cent a pound under the British preferential tariff and three-tenths of a cent a pound under the general tariff. There will be provision for specific instead of ad valorem rates of duty upon pig lead, zinc, shelter ■■ and copper ingots, including the seven and a half per cent, war duty production. Total Production Sir Thomas said the proposals, would provide for a total production under the general tariff from  per cent, to 15 per cent, on cultivators, harrows, horse rakes, seed drills, manure spreaders and weeders, and| from twenty-seven and a half per cent, to seventeen and a half per cent, on ploughs, wind mills, portable engines, traction engines for farmj purposes, horse powers and threshing machines, separators. All parts and appliances are included. Provision is made for a total reduction from thirty-two and a half t per cent, to twenty per cent, on hay loaders, potato diggers, fodder cut-; ters, grain crushers, fanning mills, hay tedders, farm or road rollers,1 post hole'diggers, swaiths and farm, waggons. In the cast of cement the war customs duty will be repealed and the general tariff rate reduced to eight cents per hundred pounds! or a reduction of two cents from the i general tariff rate. The total estimated loss in revenue. Sir Thomas placed at $17,000,000, and owing to the reduction in the | total volume of imports due to diminishing purchasing power during, the current year and probable de-' cline in prices as well, he said the expectation was there would be a total loss in customs revenue for the present fiscal year of at least 25,--000,000.To partially offset this loss and close the gap of the deficit of 15,--000,000, between revenue and current expenditure a heavy increase in income .taxation was proposed. Sir Thomas anticipated in the future all corporations shall pay ten per cent.: on their nett income in excess off $2,000. In the case of individuals it is proposed that the normal rate of four per cent, shall be levied on all incomes exceeding $1,000 but not exceeding $6,000, in the case of unmarried persons and widows and widowers without dependent children /r> •• l , \ (Continued on page  (Continued oa page two.) 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