A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 169, 13 April 1935, Page 13

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Burma and India Sir Samuel Hoare, Secretary of State for India, in the debate on the India Bill in’ the House of Commons, said that opinion was overwhelmingly in favour of the separation of Burma from India. Burma is at present a Governor’s Province of British India, though geographically and racially a separate entity. It is more than twice the size of New Zealand and has 15,000,000 population. Annexation to British control was completed in 18S6. It has a Legislative Council of 103 members —SO elected and 23 nominated —which, together with two responsible .Ministers. one Burman and. one Chinese, has control of education, health, agriculture- and the voting of supplies. Defence, law and order, kind taxes and finance are reserved to the Governor and administered by’ civil servants, one-third of whom are Burmese. The Burmese have long sought separation from India and autonomy. Irish Free State.

A member of the Irish Free State Legislature has voiced the opinion that if the Free State remained in the British Commonwealth it would be a long step toward ending the partition of Ireland. The Irish Free State comprises the three southern provinces of Ireland —Leinster, Munster and Connaught—and three counties, Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan of the Province of Ulster. It is about half the size of the North Island. Under the Treaty of 1921, Northern Ireland, consisting of six counties, Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh. Londonderry and Tyrone, of the Province of Ulster (area 5237 square miles), exercised its option of continuing a separate existence. The Irish Free State is a “co-equal, self-governing Dominion.” The Northern. Ireland Parliament legislates for local matters except such as are of Imperial concern, or specially reserved to the Imperial Parliament. Irish Linen.

Fear is expressed that if Ireland, broke away from the British Commonwealth, substitutes for the linen and shipbuilding trades would have to be found. The bulk of the Irish linen industry used to be done in homes of the people living among the hills and valleys of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Derry and Tyrone. The people would take the results of their labour to the nearest market town on certain days and there sell to “linen drapers” who had come from London, Bristol, Manchester, Dublin and Belfast, or their agents. Anywhere from 200 to 600 weavers would attend these markets. With the advent of the factory power-loom, Belfast became the centre of the industry. Between 1850 and 1900 some £30,000,000 were invested in spinning mills, factories, bleach works, dye works, warehouses and other equipment essential to the linen industry. In normal times employment was provided for over 100,000 persons. During the past 10 years the industry has suffered from foreign competition, the manufacture of cheaper and inferior quality linens, and the economic disturbances of the world. Southampton Water. ” , Southhampton Water, at the entrance to which the Aquitania went aground, is • a fine inlet stretching 11 miles from the point at which the Solent and Spithead unite, and nearly two miles wide. At the head of the inlet is Southampton and the port. The Isle of Wight forms a magnificent natural breakwater, and causes a second high tide two hours after the first. The Solent is the western portion of the strait between the Isle of Wight and the mainland of England. ■ It is 17 miles long and about three miles in average width. Spitbead is the eastern division of the strait, and is 14 miles long by an average breadth of four miles. , The Isle of Wight is 23 miles long, with an extreme breadth of 13 miles. Article 16. The “News-Chronicle” (London)' believes that Britain should put herself unreservedly’ behind the strengthening of the League of Nations Covenant and the more precise sanctions under Article 16. Paragraph 1 of Article 16 reads: "Should any member of the League resort to war in disregard of its covenants (under the League) it shall ipso facto be deemed io have committed an act of war against all other members of the League, which hereby undertake immediately to subject it to the severance of all trade or financial relations, the prohibition of all intercourse between their nationals and the nationals of the Covenant-breaking State, and the prevention of all financial, commercal or personal intercourse between the nationals of the covenant-breaking State and the nationals of any other State, whether a member of the League or not.” Sugar Beet. The Sugar Committee has come to rhe conclusion that it is not profitable to the Government to continue subsidising the sugar beet industry in Britain. Sugar beet is a very- important sugar-yielding field crop. About 5,000,000 acres are now devoted to the world’s crop, but until 1910, except for spasmodic experiments, sugar was not grown in Britain. In 1912 the first modern factory was opened at Cantley, Nofolk. The area planted in sugar beet in 1933 was 304,06 S acres, the yield nine tons to the acre, and the factory outputs' of sugar (455,540 tons), molasses (126,500 tons), and pulp (189,78 S tons), were all the highest recorded in the country. Bordeaux. Spring frosts have ravaged the vineyards in the Bordeaux region, ruining fom 50 to 90 per cent, of the crops. Bordeaux is the third seaport of France, and the chief town in the department of Gironde. It is situated on the left bank of the Garonne, about 60 miles from its mouth in the Atlantic, and 360 miles south of Paris. There are large dockyards and much shipbuilding. Except those of Champagne, no French wines have been so much exported to foreign countries as those grown in the department of Gironde. Bordeaux is also the centre of the French cod-fishing ships for Newfoundland and elsewhere. Lord Trenchard. Lord Trenchard, whose name has been mentioned as the next GovernorGeneral of Australia, is 62 years old. He is Marshal of the Royal Air Force, and the present Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police (London). He entered the Army at the age of 20 years and served in South Africa. He was a pioneer in military aviation, and became Commandant of the Central Flying School in 1914, and did valuable work in the Great War. He received a baronetcy in 1919. with a grant of £lO,OOO. From 1918 to 1928 he wag Chief of the Royal Air Staff. He was appointed Marshal in 1927, and raised to the Peerage in 1930.