CORFU.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 213, 8 September 1923, Page 5

CORFU.

THE ITALIAN OCCUPATION POLICY OF AGGRANDISEMENT. lOWS AKD FOETS DESCRIBED, j WANTON BOMBABDMF.NT. ! I (By EDITH SE.VRLE GROSSMAXX. M.A.i ' There can be little doubt that the homhirdmenr. and occupation of Corf" ivas a stroke of a deliberate policy of national aggrandisement on the part or the Italian (Government. It is no-t at .•ill an isolated action, but nne of a series of similar attacks und descents on the western shore of the Adriatic and on the adjacent Isles. At the back of the whole movement lies a fantastic dream of reviving the glories of the oid Kmpire of Italy—especially that of the A puetians, which once extended along the shores of what, are now Serbian, Albanian, or Greek territory. It is even true that the Venetians founded some of the modern towns and left a partially Italian population in some other localities. Corfu was under Italian government for more than f>oo years, and even to this day Italian is almost as well understood there as Greek, i Also the capital is "Italianate" in style. And in their own country, in the avail- i able places, Italians are in numbers and ambition cramped as Japanese in Japan. That is the case for Italy and it is a very poor one. To confine the. attention to Corfu. It is, in spite of mixtures, predominantly fireek—Greek in origin, Greek in population. Greek by express will of the majority. The whole argument for ! Jtaly is mediaeval and doubly inadmissible" after the Great War, which was | proclaimed as "a war to end all wars." I Tor "200 years Poland was governed by ! foreigners. Belgium and Flanders were longer under Spain, and a great part of ITortbern Italy was once under Austria, and Greece under Turkey, a considerable part of France subject to Kngland. If the- League of Nations or if the conscience of Europe admitted former conquest and domination as an excuse for invasion, chaos would come again. We may dismiss without consideration the alleged motive for Mussolini's breach of the peace—that persons believed to be Greek, and supposed or imagined to be agents of the C-reek government, killed some Italians in a distant part of another country. If they were Greeks, the Corfuites bad no connection at all with the murder, and 1o open fire upon children and quiet Burghers was not even war out massacre. But the truth is the Italian Government was only awaiting for some such pretext. The town of Corfu lies peculiarly exposed to assault by its situation, built straight up from the water's edge, with- j out any winding sea pathway or bay J or gulf. It is built out on to the Adriatic on a rocky promontory with one little bay to the north of it and another small bay to the south. The liarbour is formed by a wonderful piece of masonry on what we might describe as a reef of rock. This reef has all been hewn and built up into a strong! 6ea wall, like an enlarged mole. In the follows where earth has gathered, young Cyprus trees have sprung up, their dark pointed pyramids of branches ■ adding another picturesque touch j against the glowing sky. Above the sea-wall rises a hill or mound of rock and earth. The summit is crowned by the old Venetian fort of massive stone walls, of such depths and thickness as would be incredible to anyone unacquainted with the fortress builders of the mediaeval world. There arc other massive walls and towers on lower ledges of this, the chief height of the mound, for it is really a double mound. Then on the ledge between the mound and the sea wall more towers and walls, and the sea wall itself has been shaped like the battlement of an ancient castle. There are one or two other romantic mounts or mounds to which it might be compared—St. Michael's Mount, "that great vision of the Guarded Mount, ,, as Milton calls it) opposite Marazion, on the soutli western coast of Cornwall, Mount. St. Michel, off the coast of Normandy, and (with still some resemblance though much less) the Castle Rock of Edinburgh. The greatest of all the many differences is that all these stand amongst the wild stern scenery of the grey North and even in the very outlines of their architecture match the atmosphere and scene, while the Fortezza Vecchia is commonly seen asainst sky and sea of the Mediterranean's glow "and richness of colour; the atmosphere, especially at sunset, seeming to lay colour like a I hloom upon its mighty walls and ruins. It is indescribable, that light and colour of the Adriatic and the lonian seas. ; Those who have not yet seen the Old World may still form some image of it from one of our own volcanic mounts, if they can imagine it on a ledge of land rising out of the sea, and with its terraces and summits built upon. But Mediterranean colour is much deeper toned than our own. As even school children are now aware, modern forts are subterranean and the; most massive of mediaeval towers could be shattered to pieces by the cannon of to-day. By the beginning of this century, Fortezza bad ceased to be a fort. When the custodian Ehowed mc over it, about sixteen years a2O, it was in use as a barracks, and the cables state that it is now an orphanage as well. There are breaks in the sea battlements and places where a narrow strip of sand has formed against it especially towards the extreme point, and it is there probably that the Italian guns mowed down the unfortunate orphans, who bad no more to do with the murder of Italians in Albania than our own Auckland children had. It would not do, in describing Fortezza, to omit mentioning the wonderful view from its platform over the greater part of the island —a romantic fandscape of mountain peaks and chains, deep valleys, lakes and inlets, of blue tides and sea, groves of noble olive trees and mighty cypresses, rocks, vineyards, and small picturesque villages, all in that oriental glow. The island has not the Alpine heights that give co much majesty to the mainland, but it lias not the dry plains and the dried-up watercourses, bare outlines. Here there is much more luxuriance, and if tropic heat withers it a while, heavy showers, followed by night of heavy dew, fall and clothe the whole soil in a day or two with new and more tender verdure and blossoms. To return to the town. At the other extremity from the Fortezza Vecchia, is thp Fortezza. Nuova, modelled on it. Between them lies as much of a harbour as thpre i? to be found. Bound it on the waterfront is an esplanade, opening into i> Efcuare, A Greek, city square is simply

a quadrangular reserve, oitcn railed in | with grass, a few sparse trees, and in j Athens even flowering shrubs, occasionally, not often, a small memorial structure, and always rows of little tables and seats be;cmjring to the nearest cuff, whore men s'.t for hours, talking, after taking a email cup of black coffee or a rat Greek wine and water, and perhaps some loukoumi ("Turkish delight"). . . J The town is exceedingly quaint, bright i and charming, though neither modern I nor commodious*. Tier on tier of tall j (.Kl narrow buildings, shops or houses, [minted either white, weathered by the ' sun to warm ivory tints, or prayer blue 'or red, mellowed by time ami cimate, red-roofed and with picturesque irregularities and angles am. corners of deep shadows relieving its many tones of <oiour. Narrow and noisy streets wind .!i and out of these buildings. Within walking distance of the town are the villa of the King of Grocer (Mon Ropos) Hidden in the trees, with a terraced garden sloping down to the water's edge; the pretty village of Ascension, on the same line of cutis; an inlet or eea-creek and strand, identified a» the place where Homer's Nausicaa played ball with her maidens, helped wa«h the royal garments and met Odysseus; some ancient churches and the remains of a temple of classical Greece. Of the (.ireek lines of steamers that used to run to i'atros, the chief was that locally known as the Tezon, an abbreviation of the John Macdowall Company, whose head office was in Athens. fn spite of its familiar North Britieh name I and origin, its crew nnd its manners and customs on board were entircf-jr .Hellenic. An Italian company, the Nay gazionc Generale ltaliana. ran a miic. more luxurious line, rivalled by the Austrian Royal Line. All the Greek lines, according to the cables, have now been stopped. There arc many traces of the English occupation at Corfu, especially the fine ' roads. It was one of the few places iin Greece where the English tongue was j occasionally spoken by the natives, ali though certainly it was a very unusual v.Miety of English. i , Directly opposite the town, in full j view across the sea, rise the wild mountains called Albania—dark violet in summer, snow-topped in winter—in contrast with the luxuriant loveliness of the island. Us scenery is rivalled by the : "beauty of the peasants, especially the young girls, who deck themselves' with the most picturesque white garments and j snow-whito head dresses.