CORFU AND THE IONIANS

Hokitika Guardian, 29 September 1923, Page 4

CORFU AND THE IONIANS

Corfu is once again being fondled bv her lover, Mars. Whether her dreaded visitor "ill go of slay is the question of the hour. Alt international war looms on the horizon, and from Corfu will rise the beckoning or .staying hand. The second largest of the -10 lonian Islands that thread themselves round the .south and west of Greece. Corfu has an area el -1-7 square miles, its greatest breadth being -0 miles. The capital of the lonian* is situated on it. the town of Coiiit. built on a vise, with broad streets, and it line esplanade; and. not far off, the ex-Kaiser's beautiful Villa Achilloion. 1 !t t . island is mountainous, dry and Pare on the elevated parts, but very fertile in the. valleys. In its delightful climate orangeries and olive gardens flourish. Wine, honey, and Corinthian grapes, which "'c know ns currants, arc some of its exports. The inhabitants are of Greek descent, speaking tlte softest of the modem Greek dialects.

Covering an area of ICOQ square miles, the lonian Islands have had an eventful history. From the pretty mists of Legend they rose into the light of Fact when the Corinthians seized •them, B.C. 734. In the skilful hands of their new masters the commerce ,of the islands acquired considerable importance. It. was not long, however, before Corfu quarrelled wita the mother-country, and for the next half century the war god dallied in the islands. In the third century- B0. they passed under the dominion

of Rome, and remained a part of the empiro till 1081. . A continual change of masters till-"the- loth century placed them at last in the hands of Venetians who ceded them in 1797 to France. Three, years later they were seized by Russia and Turkey, and in 1807 by Their stormy career stopped for a while, when England took posession of them two years later. In 1815 they were formed in to the Septiueulnr Republic, under the protectorate of Great Britain. But once again their characteristic dislike for their masters became very apparent. They demanded to he annexed to their motherland once more, an insurrection breaking out. Besides being a perpetual source of annoyance tc, Britain, the islands had cost her £,100,i;0!l a year. Willingly, therefore, in 18(5.1. a treaty was concluded, by which Great Britain permitted her tioublesome dependency to incorporate herself with Greece. In this treaty Corfu was granted the .status of perpetual neutrality. Being of great strategic importance, commanding, as it does, the mouth of the Adriatic, this stipulation was iho greatest wisdom. And yet—what avails it? The stormy islands seem to he entering once mere into the liery embrace of their ancient , triend and familiar-liars.