A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 69, 14 December 1935, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

The King and Ministers

Statements have been published to the effect that Mr. Anthony Eden withdrew threats of resignation only after being summoned to Buckingham Palace, where he received counsel of moderation from the King. The Sovereign in the British Constitution retains great influence, great dignity, and complete freedom from political liability, although he has had to abandon the right to direct national affairs, or to shape national affairs. But though the King does not govern the country, he does still have a share in the control of Government, which may be greater or less according to circumstances, but is in any case substantial. In the ordinary course of things he is understood to have three rights, which have been defined as the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn. The Minister can do what seems good to him and his colleagues. But it is subject to the obligation of submitting every important decision before it can be carried into effect, to this “dignified, authoritative, supremely influential critic.” The correct attitude for the King, we are told by Walter Bagehot. is that of "the sagacious, dispassionate mentor. He should address the Minister iu some such terms as these: 'The repousibility of these measures is npon you. Whatever you think best must ■be done. Whatever you think best must have my full and effectual support. But you will observe that, for this reason qnd that reason, what you propose to do is bad; what you do not propose to do is better. I do not oppose, it j§ my duty not to oppose; but observe that I warn.’” Such remonstrances and exhortation must ofteu have effect. They come to the Minister from a quarter he cannot ignore, with all the weight and prestige given to them by the exalted station of the speaker. The King speaks from the vantage ground of perhaps a greater knowledge than the Minister possesses, and a closer and more intimate connection with affairs of State. Ministers come and go; but there is no resignation for the King while life endures. War Debts. Great Britain has notified the United States that she will not meet her war debt payment due on December 15. Ou December 15, 1934, all European Governments except Finland defaulted as they had on June 15, 1934. At December 15, 1931, the total of the indebtedness from European States to the United States on account of war debts was 11,704,487,464 dollars and the instalments due, 629,795,963 dollars, Britain’s portion being 379,461,776 dollars. The British Government, on June 4, 1934, announced the suspension of all war debt payments to the United States until a final settlement had been reached, and declared that it was prepared to make an additional token payment on June 15, 1934, if it could thereby avoid the stigma of default. President Roosevelt, iu a message to Congress on June 1,1934, said: "We are using every means to persuade each debtor nation as to the sacredness of the obligation and also to assure them of our willingness, if they so request, to discuss frankly and fully the special circumstances relating to means and methods of payment. On May 10, 1934, the United States Department of State ruled that any token payment in the future would constitute a default. On March 31,1934, there was owing to Great Britain from other countries on account of war loans the sum of £2,445,581,000. of which £1,182,992,000 was the uneol leetable Russian debt. Weimar. Weimar, where the Reich League of the Rich in Children is being launched, is where Goethe and Schiller lived and where, iu 1919, the Constitution of the Republic of Germany was drawn up. That Constitution was supplanted by Herr Hitler. Weimar stands in a beautiful valley surrounded by hills, on ground partly hilly and partly flat. It is built on the banks of the Um, about 50 miles from Leipzig, and is a centre of the publishing trade in Germany. The town has a park laid out by Goethe, and some picturesque old houses. The population is about 44,000 Mr. Lincoln Ellsworth. Mr. Lincoln Ellsworth, fears for whose safety in the Antarctic are eutertainecl, made an Arctic flight, with Roald Amuudsen in 1925, another iu the dirigible Norge from Spitsbergen over the North Pole to Alaska. He had au ambition also to fly across the Antarctic Continent. For this he set out iu 1933 by ship from Dunedin to the Bay of Whales. He chose as his pilot for the flight Bernt Balchen, who acted as pilot for Admiral Byrd when he flew over the South Polo iu 1929. Ellsworth’s plant was to take off from his base at the Bay of Whales, make a non-stop flight across the continent to the Weddell Sea, and return a distance of 2900 miles. One of bis objects was to see whether the Ross and Weddell Seas meet, and to determine whether the great Antarctic continent continues unbroken from the South Pole to the Weddell Sea. His plane however, was wrecked iu January, 1934 at the Bay of Whales before he could start by the break-up of the ice shelf. This present expedition is an endeavour to tlo now what he tailed to do thou, only he is attacking the task from the, Weddell Sea end. Millipedes. Dr. J. R. Tillyard during his stay in South Westland found minute allies of the millipedes. Millipedes have loug. rounded and segmented bodies, with a hard shell covering, and usually two pairs of legs on each segment. Their legs are certainly very numerous, but not so numerous as fo justify the name "thousand-footed.” They are easily distinguished from the centipedes by their rounder bodies and the double pair ’•!' legs ou each segment; and whereas the centipedes are swift, ferocious, and carnivorous, the millipedes, with few exceptions, are slow, and vegetable feeders, and are unarmed save for the possession of offensive liquid glands. Like the centipedes these creatures lurk under stones, or beneath the bark of trees. Their movements are very curious. The little delicate feet, looking like white threads, move in a regularly graduated order, so that as the creature glides along, a succession of waves seems to pass over their bodies. The young are hatched without any limbs, but as they continue to grow the number of segments and limbs increases so that the young millipedes gradually attain the shape and form of their parents.