A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 168, 12 April 1935, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

The Map of Europe

Mr. Stanley Baldwin says a great attempt was made at Versailles to redraw the map of Europe. Germany lost to France, Denmark, Poland, Belgium and Lithuania territory half the size of the North Island. The AustroHungarian Empire was broken up. Austria proper was reduced from larger than New Zealand to three-fifths the size of the North Island : the population from, 30,000,000 to 6,000,000. Hungary lost more than 70 per cent, of territory and 60 per cent, of population, and is now four-fifths as large as the North Island, with 8,000,000 population; Out of Austria-Hungary was made Czechoslovakia, as large as the North Island, with 14,000.000 population. Yugoslavia, nearly as large as New Zealand, is made up of Servia, Montenegro, and portions of territory from Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria. Bulgaria also lost territory to Greece, as did Turkey. Rumania was increased from the size of the North Island to nearly three times as large, and from 8,000,000 in population to 17,000,000, receiving territory from Austria, Hungary and Russia. Turkey, from being six times as large as New Zealand, is now less than twice as large: her population has been reduced from 21,000,000 to 9,000,000. Poland has been re-created since the war out of her former territory that Prussia, Russia and Austria once divided among themselves. She is one and a half times the size of New Zealand and has a population of 25,000,000. Armenia (once Turkish), Georgia, Azerbaijan, Finland and Lithuania (all taken from Russia) are new States since the war. Lithuania.

Herr Hitler is not prepared to include Lithuania in any non-aggression pact. The reason is that Germany harbours designs of regaining Memel, which, before the war, was a Prussian fortified town on the Baltic, with a good harbour. In the 13th century Lithuania was a Grand Duchy. In the 16th century it was united with Poland. In the 18th century it passed under Russian rule. During the war it was overrun by the Germans, who created it an independent State under the promise of complete independence. It was actually declared a republic in February, 1918. Because the Poles seized Vilna, the ancient capital of Lithuania, in 1923, the Lithuanians seized Memel, which, after the war, had been declared a free city under international control. In 1924 Memel was/ceded to Lithuania. Fourfifths of Lithuania’s population is Roman Catholic, Protestants predominating only in Memel. About SO per cent, of the population is dependent directly- on farming for a living. Aggression.

According to Sir John Simon, when it was suggested the Powers should engage not to support the aggressor in any way, Herr Hitler dwelt on the difficulty of identifying the aggressor. The difficulty about deciding who is the aggressor in disputes between countries is that each country believes itself to be in the right and the opposing country in the wrong. It is now becoming an accepted definition that an aggressor is a country which, as party to a dispute, refuses to submit its case to arbitration, or the judgment of a third party, or international tribunal if the other country (also party to the dispute) agrees to submit its case to such arbitration. Germany Arming.

While stating German’s requirement in land forces afi 550,000 men and all types of guns, and a navy 35 per cent, of the British tonnage, Herr Hitler expressed his willingness to limit armaments if other Powers would do the same. France recently expressed a readiness to concede an increase from 100,000 to 200,000 men (Germany had asked for 300,000). This was to be preliminary to a later general agreement, freely negotiated between Germany and the other Powers, which would provide for the organisation of security in Europe, and in relation to Germany, the establishment of agreements upon armaments to replace Clause sof the Peace Treaty. It was made a condition that Germany should join the League of Nations. x The Air Pact.

Herr Hitler says the German Government favours the suggestion in the London communique of February 3 of an air pact between the Locarno Powers. The Powers who signed the Locarno Paet are Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Belgium. The hope expressed in the London communique of February 3 last was that these Powers would sign a pact to protect the signatories against unprovoked aerial attack by any of the contracting parties. The Locarno Pact guaranteed the existing frontiers of France, Belgium, and Germany in the West (but not in the East) against unprovoked attack by any of the signatory Powers. Herr Hitler’s Speech.

On the subject of the League of Nations Herr Hitler draws attention ‘to his speech of May 17, 1933. He then declared Germany’s readiness to dissolve her entire military forces, and even to destroy the arms permitted to her, if other Powers would do the same. She would regard five years’ transitional period as adequate for the reestablishment of her national security, if, at the end of that period, she was on an equal footing with other nations. He also said that the League of Nations had been of no practical value. “We demand equal rights for Germany in disarmament, and we appeal to the Treaty of Versailles,” he said Guernsey.

Guernsey, where a murder trial is proceeding, belongs, with Jersey, Alderney and Sark, and the islets of Henn and Jethou, to the Channel Islands, situated from 10 to 30 miles from the French coast and 50 miles from England. Guernsey is nine miles long and up to five miles in width, and the population 42,000. Alderney, Sark, Henn and Jethou rank as dependencies of Guernsey. Both little commonwealths (Guernsey and Jersey) have their own legislatures and laws and are not controlled by the Imperial Parliament. The foundation of their laws is the Grand Coutumier of Normandy, modified by centuries of island legislation and by the adoption of many British Acts of Parliament. French is the official language. Each has its Lieutenant-Governor (or Commander-in-Chief), its Bailiff (Chief Magistrate) and its own Judicature. The Bailiff presides over the royal court, consisting of 12 jurats (life magistrates), chosen by the whole electorate in Jersey, and by a body called the States of Election in Guernsey. In Guernsey the States consist of the 12 jurats, the Crown officers, eight (out of 10) rectors, 15 douzeniers (or representatives of the parishes) and nine deputies elected by the people.