A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 287, 31 August 1935, Page 7

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Speech From the Throne

The Speech from the Throne, read at the opening of Parliament by the Governor-General, Lord Galway, is really a Government manifesto, explaining the main features of the legislation which it is proposed to introduce, and also surveying the general field of politics, domestic and international. Want-of-Confidence.

The Opposition has given notice to move a want of confidence (or, as it is more generally called, a no confidence) motion in the Government. A want of confidence motion is always considered to supersede every other matter. When a notice of motion is given which challenges the position of the Ministry it is the invariable custom of the House of Representatives to suspend all other business until this question is settled. On a want of confidence motion members may discuss almost anything. Early Auckland.

Mr. Ernest Davis, Mayor of Auckland, intends to erect an obelisk marking the spot where Captain Hobson, the first Lieutenant-Governor of NewZealand, landed at Auckland. In a dispatch dated October 15, 1840, Captain Hobson wrote: “After mature consideration I have decided upon forming the seat of government upon the south shores of the Waitemata, in the district of the Thames. In the choice ... I have been influenced . . . first, by its central position; secondly, by the great facility of internal water communication by the Kaipara and its branches to the northward, and the Manukau and Waikato to the southward; thirdly, from the facility and ■safety of its port and the proximity of several smaller ports abounding with the -most valuable timber; and, finally, by the fertility of the soil . . . the richest and most valuable land in the northern Island being concentrated within a radius of 50 miles.” Kussnacht.

Kussnacht, near where the Queen of the Belgians was killed in a motoraccident, is a village in Switzerland standing at) the north end of the Lake of Lucerne, at the base of the Rigi, a mountain mass of central Switzerland. The village is eight miles from the town of Lucerne. It is the start-ing-point on a bridle path up the Rigi. and has associations with William Tell, the so-called castle of Gessler being above the village. The • population is about 4000. Trial of a Peer.

It is expected that Lord de Clifford will be tried by his peers as the result of an indictment charging him with manslaughter. For the trial, the Lord High Steward, usually the Lord High Chancellor appointed by the King under the Great Seal, directs the Ser-geant-at-Arms to summon members of the House of Lords to attend and try the indicted peer. Every member appearing and taking the proper oaths is to vote on the trial of such peer, the decision being by a majority. The collective body of peers is the judge both of law and fact. The Lord High Steward, who acts as a sort of a chairman, votes with the rest in right of his peerage. The House of Lords has power to summon the judges of the High Court to attend for the purpose of giving assistance upon any questions of law which may arise, but are not bound to act upon their advice. For the trial of Earl Russell, 160 peers and 11 of his Majesty’s judges attended. Bishops, of whom 24 (including two archbishops) sit in the House of Lords, do not participate in trials.' Treaty of Uccialli.

Italy intends to make plain to the League Council that ever since the Treaty of Uccialli, Italy’s colonial priority of Abyssinia has always been recognised. This treaty of peace and friendship with Menelek, Emperor of Abyssinia, and Italy, was concluded in May, 1889. Article XVII read: “His Majesty the King of Kings of Ethiopia consents to avail himself of the Italian Government for any negotiations which he may enter into with the other Powers or Governments.” In Italy, and by other European Governments, this article was generally regarded as establishing an Italian protectorate over Abyssinia, but this interpretation was never accepted by the Emperor Menelek, and at no time did Italy succeed in establishing any very effective control over Abyssinian affairs. In 1893 .Menelek denounced the Treaty, and on March 1, 1896, defeated the Italians-at Adowa. By a treaty concluded after that battle, Italy acknowledged the independence of Abyssinia. Typhoons.

Extensive damage has been-caused in Japan by a typhoon. This is the Asiatic name for a hurricane. Typhoons and hurricanes are vast atmospheric whirls, moving with the prevailing winds in the tropical zone, and are accompanied by heavy rain. They originate on the ocean, although many of them are destructive along the margins of land. They occur in the Pacific and in the North Atlantic, but are absent from the South Atlantic. The West Indies, the Philippines and the adjacent coasts of South America and Asia are frequently visited by them. A well-developed hurricane or typhoon may cover an area 100 to 500 miles wide and six miles deep. The forward movement is not rapid. Their approach is generally known for some time beforehand, the first indication being a long, low swell of the sea. The danger is in the centre of the whirling air, which is very rapid. The air is drawn in from all sides toward this vortex, and vessels caught in it are often whirled round and round until they sink. When the hurricane or typhoon reaches the coast, the wav e piled up by its force is greatly increased in height, sometimes to many feet, and may sweep everything before it. France and the League.

It is stated that should Eranee side with Italy, she would be faced with the long-standing reproach that her attachment to the League of Nations was a desire to use it as a combination against Germany. The policy of the French Government, since the war, has been to ensure that in case of German aggression, whatever military supremacy is given to France under the Treaty of Versailles shall not be diminished. The defection of the United States and the nullification of the British guarantee treaty strengthened French insistence upon full maintenance of her own armed forces. She attempted to strengthen her military position by alliances, guarantee treaties against aggression and the like, while at the same time insisting upon keeping Germany as weak as possible. She was, therefore, not in favour of disarmament, except such as would maintain the relative French military supremacy in case of attack by Germany.