A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 92, 12 January 1935, Page 13

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Austria and Germany.

Austrian troops have been sent to the Bavarian frontier owing to fears of a Nazi invasion of Austrian territory. In 1931, the Austrians, driven to the verge of despair by the effects of the world depression, renewed their attempt to bring about some form of union with Germany, and in agreement with Dr. Bruning’s Government in Germany the proposal was brought forward for an Austro-German Customs Union—in other words for complete economic but not political union between the two countries. But this proposal was promptly vetoed by the French, and pressure was put upon the Germans as well as the Austrians to withdraw it. The question of its consistency with Austria’s and Germany’s obligations under the Treaties of Peace was finally referred to the Hague Court for settlement ; but it was made clear that whatever the court said France would not tolerate an economic union which her politicians regarded as the first step toward a political amalgamation. Under Allied pressure the Germans were compelled to renounce the project; and Austria, in desperate straits financially, was' made to give further guarantees of good behaviour as a condition of receiving additional temporary assistance from the League of Nations. Since then, the position has been further complicated by the rise of an Austrian Nazi movement in close touch with the South German Nazis. Herr Hitler is himself an Austrian by origin; and the inclusion of Austria in the German Reich has been from the first one of the aims of the Nazi movement. Hull and the Humber.

A trawler of Hull has foundered in the Humber with loss of life. Kings-ton-upon-Hull was selected in the thirteenth' century by Edward I as a port. At Hull the Humber is three miles wide. Whaling used to be an important industry, but the last whaler left Hull as long ago as 1865. On the ruins of the whaling trade Hull has built up two of her great industries—fishing and oil extraction. When Die whaling ceased the whalers turned their attention to cod and mackerel; and the whale-oil factories to linseed. Humber trawlers accounted for 3000 German mines during the war; the Humber turned out 800 trawlers and 10,000 men to sweep the North Sea, and over 1000 officers and men lost their lives on minefields. Tithes. ''

The tithe problem in England is said to be emptying churches and ruining agriculture. In the earliest ages of the Christian Church, offerings were made by its members. For many centuries, however, they were voluntary. But when the Church had increased in power, and began to number among its members many who adhered to it because it was the prevailing religion, it was found necessary to enforce certain Axed contributions for the support of the ministers of religion. The Church relied upon the example of the Jews, and claimed a tenth, called a tithe. In 1200 Pope Innocent 111 ordered the payment of tithes to the priests of the respective parishes, instead of, as previously, to whatever church or monastery the payer himself decided. This parochial appropriation of tithes has ~ever since been the law of England. Tithes were originally paid in kind, that is, the tenth wheatsheaf, the tenth lamb or pig, as the case might be, belonged to the priest of the parish as his tithe. Now they are a fixed sum of money. Mr. L. Hore-Belisha.

Mr. Leslie Hore-Belisha, who has abolished night motor-horn hooting in built-up areas throughout England, is Minister of Transport. It is said of him that he won his first election at Devonport by taking advantage of the fact that someone called him “a little , chit of a fellow.” He used the phrase in every speech he made. “Nelson was a little chit of a fellow,” he said, “so was Napoleon. So was Lord Roberts). An inveterate reader of Lord Beaconsfield’s novels, and a close student of his speeches, he is himself a Jew, and 37 years old. He was educated at Clifton College, Heidelberg University, and at St John’s College, Oxford. He was president of the Oxford Union in 1919. He served in the Great War with the rank of major. He is a barrister by profession. U.S.A. Gold Policy.

The United States Supreme Court is at present hearing a test case in which a bondholder contends that a 22-dollar interest payment should have been equivalent to the old gold value, or, about 40 per cent, more, and that in effect he has been deprived of property without process of law. The Gold Reserve Act in January, 1934, granted the President control over the country's credit system, and authorised him to manage American currency within certain limits. He immediately utilised this power by a proclamation which hevalued the dollar in terms of gold, the gold content of the new dollar being 59.06 per cent, of the gold in the old dollar. This resulted in a profit to the Treasury of 3.000.000,000 dollars. Out of each ounce of gold 35 dollars are now made instead of 20 as before. Tunisia.

By the agreement just signed between France and Italy, Italians born in Tunisia until 1965 will retain Italian nationality. Tunisia forms part of what is called the Barbary States, a name applied to that part of North Africa which embraces Morocco in the west, Algeria in the middle, and Tunisia in the east. Algeria in the middle is altogether French, having been formally annexed and virtually made a “department.” In • Morocco there is a Sultan in apparent authority, with the “maghzen” which is his Ministry about him, but the authority of France, the protecting Power, has steadily increased. In Tunisia, where the native ruler is called the Bey and the Government the Regency, the natives are not precisely the same way of thinking as the Moors of Morocco, and the somewhat vague Tunisian element, largely Oriental but not Arabic in origin—big, splendid fellows who to some extent suggest the Turk—accept the French Protectorate but do not unanimously rejoice in it, although the major and better elements freely admit its value and efficiency. The situation in Tunisia has been further complicated somewhat by the large Italian colony coming from Sicily, by the conjunction of southern Tunisia with Tripoli (Italian) and by the difficulty the French experience in inducing sufficient immigration from France itself.