A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 86, 5 January 1935, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

“The Times”

Commemmorating the 150th anniversary of its publication, “The Times” publishes a letter from the King wishing that “its distinction and integrity may long continue to earn for it its present tribute of world-wide appreciation." “The Times” was founded in 1785 under the title of “The Daily Universal Register” by John Walter. It assumed the title of “The Times” on January 1, 1788. It was the first paper in England to give news of the battles of Ulm, Trafalgar, Austerlitz, Jena and Friedland. Under the editorship of Thomas Barnes from 1817 to 1841 "The Times” . became the first journal in Europe. He was succeeded by the most famous of all editors, John Thadeus Delane, from 1841- to 1877. “The Times” has generally gone to young men for its editors. Barnes was 32, Delane only 23, Buckle 29. Under De- ,

lane’s editorship “The Times” made and unmade, Ministries, and its special correspondents were' treated like ambassadors. And yet its circulation was only about 50,000. It was bought in 1907 by Lord Northcliffe for £320,000 cash. In May, 1913, the price of the paper was reduced from 3d. to 2d., and in March, 1914, to Id. It is now 2d. At the outbreak of the Great War its daily circulation, was 150,000. On Northcliffe’s death in 1922 the paper passed into the hands of Mr. John Walter, great-great-grandson of the founder, and Major J. J. Astor. Their determination to maintain it as a national institutnon was exemplified in the creation of a committee without whose consent shares in “The Times” may not be transferred. The committee consists of the Lord Chief Justice of England, the Warden of All Souls College, Oxford, the President of the Royal Society, the President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and the Governor of the Bank of England, M. Laval.

M. Laval, French Foreign Minister, who is to visit Rome at the invitation, of Signor Mussolini, is regarded ■as being very much an opportunist. He succeeded M. Barthou, who was assassinated with King Alexander of ■Yugoslavia, as Foreign Minister. Although he was then Minister of the Colonies, he had had previous experience as Foreign Minister, and that fact decided the Premier, M. Doumergue, in making the present appointment. As a Senator, M. Laval has kept carefully outside Parliamentary party squabbles which, in France, are frequent tlnd often bitter. He has even been spoken of as likely to succeed M. Douinergue in the event of the Premier’s retirement. He was,' indeed, Premier in 1931 and 1932. He began his carreer as a so-called Leftwing Socialist During his Premiership of 1931, he was strongly criticised in Britain for his alleged unjust disposition toward Germany. Although the diplomatic contacts between France and Germany were closer and more frequent then than they are to-day, M. Laval’s policy marked a reaction against M. Briand’s “policy oil concessions,” and the relations between the two countries under M. Laval and Herr Bruhing were by no means as cordial as they had been under Briand and Streseman. M. Briand was M. Laval’s Foreign Minister until January, 1932, but he was an old and sick man, and it was M. Laval who made all the main decisions. There is every likelihood that he will continue in the main the foreign policy of M. Barthou, which had for its main object the formation of European pacts that would effectually isolate Germany in the event of that country doing anything to endanger the peace of Europe. Mr. R. B. Bennett.

Mr. R. B. Bennett, Prime Minister of Canada, has declared that his party will go to the country on a programme of reform. Lord Snowden, who met him at the Imperial Conference of 1930, has left on record his impressions of Mr. Bennett. “The opening of the conference,” he says, “gave me the opportunity of estimating the capacity of the Dominion delegates. It was clear from the outset that Mr. Bennett, the Conservative Prime Minister of Canada, would be the dominating personality among the Dominion representatives. He is a man of forceful character, vigorous speech, and has a definite policy. Very early in the conference he put for ward, his plan for the promotion of closer trade relations between Canada and Great Britain. He summed it up in a single sentence — Canada first, Great Britain secondhand the rest of the world nowhere. Mr. Bennett’s dictatorial manner left the other Dominion delegates with little to do except to follow his masterful leadership.”" 1 ■