A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 121, 15 February 1935, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Italy in Africa Among the things that Italy is demanding from Abyssinia is a guarantee that she will respect the Italian frontiers in Africa. Italy occupies a relatively subordinate position after Great Britain, France, Portugal and , Spain, in Africa. It is also her misfortune that almost all her African possessions, at some point or another, march with Abyssinia. Italy’s colonial venture in Africa began in 1870 when the port of Assab, in the extreme southern part of Eritrea was purchased. Lagging interest was revived in 18S5, when the colonial project was vigorously pushed. An effort to establish a protectorate over Abyssinia was made in 1889, but was upset by King Menelik, who, with an army of 80,000 annihilated a force of 12,000 Italians at the battle of Adowa in 1896. Eritrea was constituted a colony. Eritrea stretches for 620 miles along the African coast of the Red Sea from Cape Kasar to Cape Dumeireh. To the west it is bordered by the Sudan and on the south by Abyssinia. Irrigation is necessary to supplement rainfall for crops, and the soil is poor. There are several fairly good ports, the chief one being Massawa. Of a population of 622,060, leSs than 4000 are Europeans, mostly Italians. The area is a title less than the size of the North Island. Italian Somaliland is nearly twice the size of New Zealand. The population is. over 1,000,000 of whom less than 2000 are Europeans. / The colony extends along the Indian Ocean from the Gulf of Aden to the Juba River, the coast line being 1100 miles long with po indentations of importance. On the land side it touches - British Somaliland, Abyssinia and Kenya. It is the source of half the world’s supply of incense. Tripolitania and Cyrenaiea, or Italian Libya, in North Africa, extend along the Mediterranean Sea from Egypt on the east to Tunis (French) on the west. On the south they extend into the desert to French West Africa, and the Sudan. Italy obtained these two colonies from Turkey as the result of a war in 191112. The country is. rather barren but tropical fruits grow well. Sponge fishing is important.

Abyssinia.

' Abyssinia, or, to give it its correct name. Ethiopia, which at present is having trouble .with Italy, is a mountainous country in North-east Africa, bounded by Eritrea (Italian) on the north, British Somaliland, and Italian Somaliland on the east, Kenya on the south,’ and the Sudan on the west. The area is three times the size of New Zealand, and the population is 10,000,000. The Emperor, Ras Taffari Makonnen, grand nephew of the late Emperor Menelik, born July 17, 1891, was crowned in October, 1928, with the title of “King of Kings of Ethiopia, the Conquering Lion of Judah and the Elect of God,” the fact being proclaimed in the 70 languages of Ethiopia. The royal family claims descent from Menelik, the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. It was the only country in Africa that was neutral during the Great War and was admitted to the League of Nations on September 28, 1923. The agricultural and mineral resources of the country are comparatively undeveloped, and its wealth of water power is unused. In the lower country. and deep 'valleys, which are very hot, sugar cane, cotton, coffee and rubber are produced, while grain, fruit, tobacco, and potatoes are grown in the higher temperate country. Hides, skins, coffee and beeswax are the chief exports. Much of the present trouble may be said to reside in the desire of the Italians to build a railway between Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. In 1926 Ethiopia protested to the League of Nations that she was not consulted, but Italy protested that no encroachment was intended.

“Streamlining.”

Sir Malcolm Campbell is waiting on Daytona Beach with his specially resigned streamlined car for conditions that will permit of his attempting to travel at the rate of 300 miles an hour over a measured mile. During the past two or three years Increasing attention has been given . by automobile builders to the “streamlining” so called. There is an old axiom in design that “what is right looks right.” As a corollary to this it appears that as any article of utility becomes more and more adapted to its purpose it becomes increasingly pleasing to the eye. The aeroplane has made remarkable strides in this respect as can be seen by comparing the crude affair that the Wright Brothers launched with the De Havilland Comet that won the Melbourne Centenary Air Race. The latest application of these principles is found in the automobile. Originally it was a “buggy” with a small petrol tank under the floor and was called a “horseless carriage.” The first great improvement was to bring the engine up on top of the floor. Obviously the machine offered considerable air resistance, but the speeds were low, and this was not important. As the speed has increased the body of the car has progressively been lowered, making it less likely to overturn, and also offering less air resistance. About four years ago cars began to appear that were deliberately designed to lessen air resistance through inclined and V-shaped front ends, and-bodies with easier curves so that the air would flow over them with greater ease.

Jellyfish.

Millions of small jellyfish are reported to be about the beaches .of Dunedin. A jellyfish is compounded almost entirely of sea water, but so combined as almost to pass man’s comprehension. This mass of water, confined in a sort of web, makes up an animal with appetite and passions, with power to inflict injury, to capture and consume its prey. From a specimen weighing four or five pounds there remains, after evaporation, only a film of solid weighing as many grains. Jelly-fish.seize their prey, which may be anything from worms to small fish, by means of their tentacles, which are armed with batteries of minute “nettle cells,” each of which consists of a tiny bag filled with fluid and drawn out into a fine whip-like process which lies coiled within the bag. When they are touched by any animal these nettle cells explode and the thread, which is usually barbed, is shot violently out and into the body of the prey. The fluid in which the thread has been bathed is poisonous, and some of this enters the wound, causing paralysis. The prey is then pushed into the mouth and taken into the stomach, where it is digested with remarkable speed. Many jelly-fish will seize and swallow animals larger than themselves, seizing young fish with their delicate tentacles_and playing them like an angler. ■'