A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 34, 3 November 1934, Page 13

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Privilege of Speech

A Member of Parliament has been challenged to say outside what he said in the House of Representatives so that the accuracy of his statement can be decided in a court of law. By Article 9 of the Bill of Rights it was declared, "That the freedom of speech, and debates or proceedings in Parliament, ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament.” So long as a member says nothing disrespectful to the House, or the Chair, or personally opprobrious to other members, or in violation of other rules of the House, he may say whatever he thinks fit in debate, however offensive it may be to the feelings or injurious to the character of individuals; and he is protected by • his privilege from any action for slander, as well as from any other question or molestation. Fair and accurate newspaper reports of Parliamentary debate are similarly privileged. If, however, a member publishes his- speech on his own account, the printed statement becomes a separate publication, unconnected with any proceedings in Parliament and is not priviledged. Arms Manufacture.

A report from London states that the British Government has decided to establish an inquiry into the manufacture and sale of war materials. In 1921 a League of Nations Commission which had been appointed to inquire into the problem,of the private manufacture ot arms came to the following conclusions: (1) Armament firms have been active in fomenting war scares and in persuading- their own countries to adopt warlike policies and to increase their armaments;' (2) They have attempted to bribe Government officials both at home and abroad; (3) They have disseminated false reports concerning the military and naval programmes of various countries in order to stimulate armament expenditure; (4) They have sought to . influence public opinion through the control of newspapers in their own and foreign countries; (5) They have organised international armament rings through which the armaments race has been accentuated by playing off one country against another; (6) They have organised international armament trusts which have increased the price of armaments to Governments. Dr. Hugh Dalton, speaking on the Naval Estimates in the House of Commons on March 11,1926, said: “Vickers had been supplying the Turkish artillery with shells which were fired into the Australian, New Zealand and British troops as they were scrambling up Anzac Cove and Cape Helles:” China imports arms from Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Norway, Great Britain, United States and Germany. Japan also bought from the same sources for the purposes of her Manchurian campaign. Canals in England.

The Duke of Kent has opened the locks on the Grand Union Canal at Warwick, which marks the completion of a £1,000,000 scheme for bringing up to date a 280-mile artery of commerce which joins London, Birmingham and Nottingham. The first canal in England was built in 1761 by James Brindley for the Duke of Bridgwater, who owned coal-mines near Manchester. There are now in England and Wales over 4000 miles of canals and canalised rivers, the whole Of which, with jlie exception of the Manchester Ship Canal, were completed before 1830. These inland waterways may be divided into (a) barge canals. 14 or 15 feet wide; narrow canals seven or eight feet wide; ship canals over 25 feet deep and wide in proportion; canalised rivers which are often called “navigations” formed ■by deepening and straightening of existing rivers and the building of locks; open rivers which do not require alteration, and estuaries. The Grand Union Canal system which links London and the Midlands has outlets into the Thames through docks at Limehouse and ut Brentford. Goods can be conveyed direct from the Midlands to the Regent’s Canal Dock and there loaded into t sea-going vessels, or vice versa. The £1,000,000 scheme referred to has included widening • and . deepening the channels to permit motor barges capable of carrying SO tons a pair to go through. With this improvement has come a demand for factory and warehouse sites on the canal banks. Malaria Fever.

The new Lower Zambesi bridge has been completed after three and a half years’ work. What is remarkable is that in that time, owing to the mosquito control system, not a'single case of malaria occurred among all the European employees brought from England to work on the bridge. It cost the United States Government £4,000,000 to stamp out mosquitoes in the Panama Canal Zone, thereby wiping out malaria and so making possible the construction of the Panama Canal. Malaria is a parasite within’the body of the mosquito. Only the female mosquitoes can infect'human beings with the disease, the males never feeding on human beings. The female mosquitoes, after gorging themselves with blood, lay their eggs on the surface of the nearest stagnant water, where the larvae soon hatch. By covering the water with a thin film of oil the air tubes of the larvae are sealed and so they die through lack of air. For the control of the disease it is essentia! to search out every pool of stagnant water, however small, and to pour oil on it, for it is only by attacking the breeding ground of the insect that the fever can be stamped out. Where these methods of control are not possible certain small fish that love the. eggs and larvae of mosquitoes and will feed on them all day long are introduced. Royal Mail Steam Packet.

A syndicate is reported to be proposing to bid for the Royal Mail Steam Packet assets. This company, one of the most ancient and most famous shipping lines in the world, was incorporated in 1839. It was the first line to carry his Majesty’s mails in steamships (1S41). Lord Kylsaut. who later was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment for fraudulently representing that tile company had made profits, when in fact it had made trading losses, was in control when the South American boom of 1911-13 enabled the company to reap rich profits. He ordered a new fleet of luxurious passenger vessels, lavishly supplied with state cabins, with private bathrooms, and with cabins de luxe with private drawing-rooms as well. The demand for these from millionaire South Americans was insatiable. Lord Kylsant began as a slipping clerk In Newcastle. He started on his own in 1,889' with one ship, and by 1903 was chairman of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company.