A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 286, 30 August 1935, Page 12

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Expulsion From League

There is a suggestion that Italy will propose the expulsion of Abyssinia from the League of Nations. The conditions attaching to expulsion from the League of Nations are set out in Article 16 of the League Covenant. Paragraph 4 says: “Any member of the League which has violated any covenant of the League may be declared to be no longer a member of the League by a vote of the council concurred in by representatives of all the other members of the League represented thereon.” Somalis. Somalis are supposed to have stolen arms and crossed into Abyssinia. The Somalis proper are naturally nomads in the northern part of Italian Somaliland, breeding ponies, sheep, cattle, and camels. But there are also permanent small settlements, mainly on the coast, and some traders with caravans. The mixing of Somalis with other tribes, while giving rise to a confusing number of dialects, has produced an artificer class, metal-workers mostly making arms, also a servant class mainly hunters, and a poor beggar class. The best type is of magnificent physique, tall and strong, the women finely formed and attractive. Tradition assigns them Arab descent. The Somalis are a primitive people and naturally a fighting race, carrying spear, shield, short sword, and, if possible, a gun. Harrar.

Harrar, in Abyssinia, for which ths Somalis are said to be making, is built on the side of a hill. It has a population of about 50,000. An ancient city, it is the centre and market town of the province of Harrar. A track leads to Dire-Dawa, whence the railway runs to the French port of Djibouti, on the Gulf of Aden, ISO miles away. The town is protected by a stone wall, protected by 24 towers and entered by five gates. Coffee is grown in the neighbourhood and exported in considerable quantities. Though Harrar is a busy town commercially, its streets are narrow and unclean, there are no pavements, and the road surfaces are mostly boulders. The houses are for the most part mud and undressed stone. A Fakir.

Trouble is being stirred up on the North-West frontier of India by a contingent of Mohmands operating under a fakir. The word fakir means poverty, and refers to a Mohammedan religious beggar. Among Anglo-In-dians, and even among the Hindoos, the term is often used for a native beggar of any faith; but specifically it is one of the Mohammedan religion. Mohammedan fakirs in the East either live in communities, or are solitary. The latter wander from place to place, are of filthy habits, and are regarded by the unthinking Mohammedan multitude as men of great sanctity.

Mohmands. Mohmands are a Pathan tribe of the Indo-Afghan frontier. The British secured their submission in 1597. The clans within the North-West Frontier provinces are assured by treaty of their full Afghan privileges. In 1915-16 the Mohmands, stirred up by German emissaries, gave the Indian Government considerable trouble. In November, 1916, they raided Indian territory and an action was fought with the British near Peshawar, the latter using aeroplanes for the first time in Indian warfare. The raiders were defeated and driven back, with the loss of more than 100 killed. Their district lies north of the Khyber Pass and the Kabul river, in a region of rugged hills. The district owes its importance to the route through it, which obviates the necessity of using the Khyber Pass. Second Internationale.

The Communist International Congress is reported to be entering into an alliance with the Second Internationale with which the British Laboui’ Party is affiliated. The word Internationale is the name given to an international association of Labour and Socialist organisations. Karl Marx founded the first in London in 1864. The Internationale was established in 1889 after the demise of the first through internal dissensions. In 1912 it issued a manifesto calling upon all workers to secure peaceful foreign policies from their governments. Among their associates were Messrs. Stanning, Brantheir and Ramsay MacDonald, all or whom became Prime Ministers of their respective countries, Denmark, Sweden, and Great Britain. A Third Internationale was founded in 1919 by M. Lenin who’ proclaimed it£ alm to be world revolution. The Royal Society.

Professor E. V. Appleton’s conclusion that there is a heat layer in the upper atmosphere is reported to be confirmed by many members of the Royal Society. The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge (generally known as the Royal Society) is the oldest scientific society in Great Britain and one of the oldest in It came into existence about 1645. From. November to June the society holds weekly meetings when scientific papers are read, and afterward published in the “Proceedings” (dating back to 1800) or the “Philosophical Transactions” (which began iu 1664) of the society. The administration of an annual sum of £4OOO, granted by Government to promote scientific research, is in the society’s hands. It also awards medals for outstanding scientific work. The number of fellows of the society is 450, and 50 foreign members.

Newfoundland. Newfoundland, where a hurricane has caused loss of life, stretches across the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Canada, and guards it both from the north and the south. Triangular in shape, with an area of 42,734 square miles, and a winding and indented eoastline of 6000 miles, it is the tenth largest island in the world. Some of the many bays penetrate inland as far as 00 miles. More than a third of the island is covered with lakes and. rivers. The temperature rarely falls below zero in winter, and rises as high as 70 or 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. The island is occasionally visited by fogs, which are caused by the mooting of the waters in the Gulf Stream with the cold Arctic current. The prosperity of Newfoundland is based on the cod fisheries, the largest in the world. There are, of course, other kinds of fish, and lobsters are plentiful. Sealing is also an important industry. At one time the cod was the national currency, payment of debts being made in kind. The capital of .the island is St. John. Trespassey Bay, where three fishing schooners were wrecked, is at the southern extremity of the island.