RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 186, 3 May 1940, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights On Current Events (By Kickshaws.) The Mad Hatter, of course, had only one party, but. iu N,ew Zealand it looks as if our political efforts are even more so. « * * The moat of the Tower of Loudon, it is revealed, is being used to produce vegetables. Those beefeaters will just be quite too full of beans. $ A group of Americans, it is stated, are offering a million dollars for the capture of Hitler in May. Britain, we would modestly add, is only spending 1,006,000,000 dollars in the same month for the same purpose. The million dollar reward offered by certain Americans for the capture of Hitler alive indicates a complete fundamental agreement with the Allies. It is nevertheless more than probable that any private individuals who set out to accomplish the task might require to spend more money than the reward. The task certainly could not be done without wholesale bribes, and the spending of money on a very large scale. Considerably more than a million dollars a year is at present being spent by the German authorities to safeguard Hitler. Only by a miraculous stroke of good fortune could this individual be captured and smuggled into the custody of the League of Nations. Moreover, one can well believe that his body of well-meaning but impotent idealists would be seriously embarrassed by the arrival of Hitler in their midst to be tried iu the High Court of Justice. If American citizens wish to face realities the capture of Hitler may best be brought about by declaring war on him. » » »

The mere fact that there have been numerous attempts on Hitler's life all of which have failed gives some indication of the difficulties of effecting something for which the British Empire at the moment is spending £7,000,000 a day. The quarter of a million pounds offered by well-meaning Americans is a mere drop in the ocean of effort which is being made by their cousins closer to the realities of Europe than is the United States of America. Indeed one sure way to assist in the bringing of Hitler to trial would be for our friends in the United States of America to take effective steps to prevent supplies reaching him via Russia and in other ways. The British Empire contains shrewd individuals who, at this very moment, are spending night and day in efforts to frustrate Hitler and remove him from power. If the spending of so small a sum as a mere million dollars could have done so, one may rest assured it would have been spent many times over.

Ever since the famous blood purge in 1934 Hitler has taken every precaution to make sure that he was protected from assassins and those eager to capture him alive or dead. The slaying of one’s best friend in cold blood so that one might rise on his dead body to further pinnacles of vanity made many enemies. Year in, year out, those enemies have been spending many times one million dollars to catch Hitler. Even before the present war Hitler was well guarded. Six powerful men stand within a few strides of the table at which Hitler works. Every person who steps over the threshold into the room comes under scrutiny and is covered by automatics. Obviously it would be hopeless to attempt to capture Hitler under those conditions. An attempt on his life would probably only end in death for the assassin. The task of approaching to such close quarters, moreover, is remote. A large guard of Blackshirts with steel helmets and rifles is placed at important points in the Chancellery and the corridors. ♦ « ♦

The weakest moments in the safeguarding of Hitler occur when he travels and when be makes a public speech. A series of exact doubles of Hitler have been instituted which make it impossible to decide whether tile real Hitler is at any given spot at any particular moment. Indeed Hitlers have made speeches almost simultaneously at several places hundreds of miles apart. Anybody who wished to capture Hitler must make quite sure, therefore, that their efforts are not in vain. At one time Hitler used to travel by fast car and even by train. Cars are not now used, except for very short journeys at the destination. The cars used are bullet-proof, and it would require the services of a heavily armed tank to deal with Hitler while in transit by ear. At one time Hitler used the railways freely. This is not now the case. Long rail journeys are infrequent. When they are necessary, such as for trips to visit Mussolini, the precautions are such that only treacherv within could be effective. ♦ ♦ ♦

Hitler’s normal method of travel has been for the last few years by air. He uses a large aeroplane escorted in wartime by 20 fast fighters. His aeroplane is heavily guarded at the landing grounds. It is always tested before Hitler makes a flight in it, and a special band of trusted mechanics attend to it. It is just possible that this aeroplane offers the only chance of ever getting Hitler alive out of Germany. If the situation in Germany reached a stage where disaffection was rife it is probable that by a clever ruse and skilful bribery a special crew might be placed in charge of the aeroplane. The rest would have to be left to luck Nevertheless, the possibility of capturing Hitler at the present moment, either , alive or dead, is sufficiently remote for an offer of a million dollars to be totally inadequate. Nevertheless, the fact thal Americans are sufficiently interested to have made the offer is of some import. It will at least draw public attention in America to the fact that British and American outlooks are in complete unison so far as Hitler is concerned. * « ♦

“The senior pupils of our school have been endeavouring to discover what uses have been made of the discoveries of great scientists,” says “Apple;” “Some of us have been studying that great scientist Newton. Our books tell us that he made important discoveries concerning light and gravity. They fail to explain what inventions have been based upon these discoveries. [No material benefits have directly resulted from the discoveries made by Newton. Indirectly, however, almost every modern invention has used some important principle previously revealed by Newton. One must, therefore regard Newton more in the nature of a signpost that points the way and even shortens the journey. Certain discoveries he made about light have since been used for the testing of flat surfaces. Nevertheless, bis investigations into the properties of light and erroneous conclusions to which he came actually delayed the invention of improved telescopes and lenses. His reflecting telescope, however, must be accepted as an important material contribution to our civilization. It has, however, had no material effect on our own individual lives, because no household use has ever been found for reflecting telescopes. We must also thank him for throwing considerable light on gravity and the calculus.