A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 29, 29 October 1934, Page 7

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Habitual Criminals When sentencing Mervyn Cudby in the Supreme .Court to imprisonment for burglary Mr. Justice Ostler agreed to give him a chance and not declare him an habitual criminal. A judge may declare a prisoner an habitual criminal on conviction for certain specified offences of a serious nature against persons if he has already been twice convicted of any similar offence, or if convicted of wounding, robbery, theft, false pretences, burglary and house-breaking, extortion, forgery or mischief; and having lieen four times previously convicted of any offence or offences included in the above groups. At the end of the term of imprisonment with hard labour, which-is the penalty exacted by the State for such crimes, an habitual criminal may be kept in prison for an additional term up to 10 years. This latter is not so much a punishment as a preventive detention —a protection for society the conditions of such retention are less severe than those imposed for punishment of a criminal offence The Panama Canal.

Seventy-nine warships of the United States Navy are reported to have finished the transit of the Panama Canal, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in 42 hours. Had the canal been in existence in 1898 when the United States was at war with Spain the U.S.S. Oregen would have been saved 8000 miles in .its journey to the scene of the war in the Caribbean Sea. It had to go round Cape. Horn from the Pacific Ocean. This fact had perhaps more direct bearing upon the determination of the United States Government to construct the canal across the Isthmus of Panama than any other single factor. The Panama Canal shortens the water route from New York to San Francisco by 7875 miles; from Liverpool to San Francisco by 5666 miles; from New York to Callao (Peru) by 6250 miles; from New York to Yokohama by 3357 ■mites; from New York to Sydney by 3615 miles. Manchukuo Oil.

The Manchukuo Government is reported as having told British and American interests in Manchuria to keep their hands off the oil there as Manchukuo purposes making a Statemonopoly of it Nobody doubts that the moving power behind the scenes is Japan. With increasing fuel requirements and extremely meagre oil resources Japan is largely dependent on imports for its supplies of crude petroleum, and, to a lesser extent, of refined products. Japan’s imports of crude and refined petroleum in 1931 were about seven times as large as its production. In 1931 its demand, in thousand barrels (one barrel equals 42 gallons), was, for petrol, 4629; kerosene, 940; gas oil, 1309; lubricants, 1239; fuel oil, 4741; a total of 12,858 barrels. This increase in demand has been a powerful incentive for exploration for oil reserves in nearby territories, and so in November, 1929, commercial extraction of oil from the shale deposits at the Fushun collieries was commenced. The figures for the first year of production, 1930, at Fushun were: Heavy oil, 28,578 English tons; crude paraflin, 10,606 tons; ammonium sulphate, 13,332 tons; and coke, 2685 tons. For 1931, 1,245,094 tons of shale oil were produced. So far as foreign investments in Manchuria are concerned, Japan, if China is excepted, easily heads the list Japan, in 1931, had 70.4 per cent, of the foreign investments; Russia, 25.7 per cent.; Great Britain, 1.7; United States, 1.1; France, 9.9; Sweden, 0.1; Denmark, 0.04. The Japanese estimated the value of their investments in Manchuria at March 31, 1931, at 1,715,812,421 yen (£171,581,242), a. sum nearly twice the amount she has invested in Formosa and Korea combined.

Britain’s Herring Fisheries. Herring fishing in the United Kingdom is in a Very bad way, and so, it is reported, all branches of the industry which waited on British Ministers, were invited to give their views upon tlie report of the Sea Fishing Commission. The commission, set up last December, reported that it saw no prospect of the industry in its present state of disorganisation coping successfully with the ills that have befallen it, and arrived at the conclusion “that under modern conditions the old system of individualism which worked well enough when markets were expanding must now subordinate itself to efficient organisation.” The report recommended that a Herring Board should be established with jurisdiction over all the herring fishings of the United Kingdom. Edinburgh was suggested as the headquarters of the board on the ground that the industry was predominately Scottish. It was proposed that the board should consist of not more than eight members. “Primarily the function of the board would be to create such a framework of organisation within the herring industry as would preserve for the units participating in it scope for individual initiative, but would at the same time enrol all sections in a concerted effort to restore economic stability to the whole.' Herring fishermen, salesmen, curers, and kipperers would all require to be licensed by the board.” The Naval Conversations.

Preliminary naval discussions are at present taking place in London between Japanese and United Kingdom representatives, according to a report. Papan’s instructions to her delegates state that “during the preliminary talks political questions—for example Far Eastern problems—should not be brought up, and there should be no discussion of fortresses and naval bases.” It is a cardinal policy of Japanese defence that any enemy wishing to attack her should be made to come to her waters. That is why Japan is advocating the abolition of air-craft carriers and of battleships with a wide cruising range. Another reason why she asks for decreased tonnage is that their costliness is making too great a demand on her own finances to retaliate. As also she is demanding parity, the question will resolve itself whether she is to be allowed to build to the same level as Britain and the United States, or whether they are prepared to come down to her Level. For the reasons given above she would much prefer the latter. The Nine-Power Treaty signed at the Washington Conference in 1922, was one of non-aggression in the Pacific. Japan, by her attitude towards China, and the setting up of Manchukuo as an independent State, has in effect, it is considered, torn up that Treaty. Her aims at the forthcoming naval conference, it is held, will be devoted to securing conditions that will permit her to continue her policy of expansion and at the same time make It difficult for the other powers to take effective action to prevent the operation of that policy.