A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 108, 31 January 1935, Page 7

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

The Artist Millet • The trial of J. C. Millet, the grandson of the great painter, on a charge of fraudulently selling pictures with his grandfather’s autograph, is proceeding. Jean Francois Millet (18141875), who came of a peasant family, was set drawing by the sight of the engravings in an old illustrated Bible. His first success was obtained in 1844, when his ‘•Milkwoman” and ‘'Lesson In Riding” attracted notice at the Salon. After a while he left Paris for Barbizon, where he settled for the rest of his life in a three-roomed cottage, in which he wrought out the perfect story of that peasant life of which he alone has given a complete impression. Something of the imposing unity of his work was, no doubt, due to an extraordinary power of memory, which enabled Millet to paint without a model; he could recall with precision the attitudes or gestures which he proposed to represent. These impressions were always of a serious and often of a noble nature, to which the character of his execution responded so perfectly that even a “Washerwoman At Her Tub” will show- the grand action of a Medea. “The Reapers.” “The Gleaners,” and “The Angelas’' are among'his bestknown pictures. Congress of Soviets. The seventh congress of Russian Soviets is now* being held in Moscow. The supreme organ of authority of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics is the Congress of Soviets. The congress is composed of representatives of town and township soviets, on the basis of one deputy for each 25,000 electors, and of representatives of provincial congresses of soviets, on the basis of one deputy for each 125,000 of the population. Delegates are elected at the provincial congresses of soviets, and in those republics where there are no provincial congresses are elected directly at the Congress of Soviets of the republic in question. Ordinary congresses of the soviets of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics are summoned by the Central Executive Committee of the Union once a year; extraordinary congresses are convoked by the Central Executive Committee on its own decision, on the demand of two united republics. Should extraordinary circumstances prevent the summoning of the congress, the Central Executive Committee is granted the right to postpone it. The first congress met at Moscow on December 30, 1922, when it resolved that the declaration of the formation of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics should form the fundamental law, or constitution, of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. Foot-and-Mouth Disease. Advice not to take any risk with foot and mouth disease in New Zealand is given by Mr. T. L. Lancaster, head of the Auckland University College Botany Department. The disease is a virulent, contagious and iaoculable malady of animals, - characterised by initial fever, followed by the formation of vesicles or blisters on the tongue, palate and lips, sometimes in the nostrils, the fourth stomach and intestine of cattle, and on parts of the body where the skin is thin. Judging by the somewhat vague descriptions of different disorders by Greek and Roman writers, this disease appears to have been a European malady for more than 2000 years. Trustworthy proof of ■ its presence in the 17th and 18th centuries has been found, when it was reported as frequently prevailing extensively in Germany, Italy and France. In the 19th century, owing to the vastly extended commercial relations between various civilised countries, the disease became widely difliused. Though not usually a fatal nala’dy, except in very young animals, or when malignant, yet it is most serious. It attacked 150,929 farms in Germany in 1892, with an estimated loss to the owners of £7,500,000. It is transmissible to nearly all the domestic animals, but its ravages are most severe among cattle, sheep, goat and swine. Human beings are also liable to infection. Siam. Japan is reported to be making a bid for an air base at Siam within striking distance of Singapore, ostensibly for civilian air transport. Siam lies in the Indo-Chinese, or Further India peninsula, and has an area of about 220,000 square miles. The estimated population was in 1926, 9,831,000. Of > this about 3,800,000 were Siamese, about 3,650,000 Laos, 500,000 Chinese, 400,000 Malays, and the rest Cambodians, Burmese, Indian, Mon, Karen, Annamite, Kache, Lawa and others. There are about 1800 Europeans and Americans, mostly resident in the capital, Bangkok, which has about 350,000 inhabitants, of whom about one-third are Chinese. Many of the inhabitants in the country are descended from early prisoners of war. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to establish communication with Siam, in 1511. They were superseded by the Dutch, and later by the English and French. These two powers, the only ones with interests in Indo-China, guaranteed Siam’s Independence in the Anglo-French convention of 1896. Siam declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1917. All enemy ships were, interned and a quantity of German shipping taken as a prize. The present ruler, King Prajadhipok of Sakhodaya, threatened to abdicate in October last year on account of differences with his parliament. He ascended the throne in November, 1925, and is the seventh monarch of the present dynasty. Iran.

Because its Government believes that the name Persia does not fully represent the country the name is being changed to Iran. Iran is the name of the great plateau between the plain of the’Tigris in the west and the valley of the Indus in the east, the Caspian Sea and the Turanian desert in the north, and the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean in the south, surrounded on all sides by high mountain ranges with a great salt desert in the centre. Persia in the strict significance of the word denotes the country inhabited by the people designated as Persians, that is the district known in antiquity as Persis, the modern Fars. Custom has extended the name to the whole Iranian peninsula, and in this sense it is usually employed. The modern name Iran, in middle-Persian Eran, is derived from the ancient Aryana, the country of the Aryans. In historical times the major portion of Iran was occupied by peoples of Indo-European origin, terming themselves Aryans. Their language was called Arvan, according x to the inscriptions of Darius, the same name used by the consanguineous tribes of India who were their nearest .relations. Thus the name of Iranians was understood to comprehend all those, people of Aryan nationality.