A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 73, 19 December 1935, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

The Dominions and Great Britain It is stated that the Anglo-French plan in the Italo-Abyssinian dispute was sent to Signor Mussolini before the Dominions knew of its existence, although the Dominions’ delegates at Geneva were consulted before the imposition of sanctions. The League of Natidns Covenant accorded to the British Empire membership of the League with a permanent seat on the Council, but it also permitted the Dominions ’ and India to become members. Also, the Dominions were to be regarded as eligible for membership of the Council in the same way as other members of the League. It is clear that the Dominions thus obtained for all League purposes a definite position as States according to international law. The fact was emphasised by the procedure followed, from the first by the Dominions. Their delegates to the League Assembly, as later their representatives on the Council, were accredited not by the King on the advice of the British Government, but by the Governor-General of each Dominion on the advice of the Dominion Government. Nor did the representatives of the Dominions accept any obligation even to consult the British representatives; from, the first they felt entitled to vote against any proposals accepted by the British Government, and it is on record that Canada endeavoured to reduce to the minimum the obligation, imposed by Article 10 of the Covenant, for members of the League to respect and preserve, as against external aggression, the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all members of the League. It would seem, therefore, that in not consulting the Dominions with reference to the proposed peace terms Great Britain considered them as being in the same relationship as independent States on this question. Rains in Abyssinia. The prospects of the Italians securing an adequate advance in Abyssinia before the rains set in, are considered to be not very bright. Spring, aud summer in Abyssinia have their special rains. The so-called rainy season lasts from March to the beginning of May. During this period the rain falls heavily but not continuously. The long rainy season begins in the middle of June and no one who has not been in Abyssinia, it is said, can imagine how much rain falls between then and the end of September. Gorges many yards wide become rivers, and bridges are swept away. Life comes to a standstill, and for weeks on end the natives cannot leave their huts or dream of travelling to the interior, much less of waging a war. In the province of Ogaden, however, the rainy season is less severe than in other districts, and the ground is not entirely flooded. The riverbeds, however, are full, and the Jubba and Shebbeli Rivers are navigable for 400 miles. Despite the fact that there are such high mountains (some 15,000 feet or more) the rivers are flooded by rain alone, and not by snow as some people imagine. The mountains in the country are never covered with snow, and there is no word for snow in the Abyssinian language. Santa Monica. Santa Monica, where a well-known Hollywood actress was found dead in mysterious circumstances, is a city of California. It stands on the Pacific Ocean, 15 miles by railway from Los Angeles. It is a favourite seaside re- 1 sort, and cinematography is a leading industry. It also has a military academy. The population is about 40,000. Associated Gas and Electric. The Federal Government of the United States has filed a tax lien fot more than 48,000,000 dollars against the Associated Gas and Electric Company for unpaid taxes for the years 1929-33. This company is one of great complexity in its construction. "Suppose,” said an American writer, “you wished to discover the exact status of an operating’ company and traced its control to the Associated Electric Company, only to find that this was controlled by the Associated Gas and Electric Corporation, which was controlled by the Associated Gas and Electric Company, which was controlled by the Associated Securities Corporation, which was controlled by the Associated Gas and Electric Properties. Suppose you found in this same system, both a Rochester Central Power Corporation (of New York) and a Rochester Central Power Corporation (of Delaware). Or two separate concerns which, were known respectively as Mohawk Valley Company and The Mohawk Valley Company (only the definite article in the name of the latter concern distinguishing it from the former). Would you not wonder what legitimate purpose there could be behind such a bewildering method of nomenclature? The investor who in 1929 decided to put his money into the Associated Gas and Electric Company (not the Corporation, or the Properties, but the Company) had no fewer than 20 different classes of securities to choose from — including an issue of bonds due to be retired on the first of January in the year 2875.” The company is said to have performed supervising and other services at a profit of 73.3 per cent. Senator Warren T. Thayer, of New York, wrote in 1927 to a vice-president of the company: “I hope my work during the past session was satisfactory to your company, not so much for the new legislation enacted, but from the fact that many detrimental Bills which were introduced we were able to kill in my committee.” Consistory.

The Pope, at a secret, consistory, failed to make his expected pronouncement on the Italo-Abyssinian conflict. The word consistory is from a Latin word meaning “place of assembly.” lii the Roman Catholic Church the name is given to the assembly of cardinals iu council with the Pope. It is held in secret from time to time for the announcement of new cardinals and episcopal appointments, and iu the presence of other prelates, for the presentation of the red hat to newly-cre-ated cardinals, and for the final declaration of beatification and canonisation. In the Church of England the consistory is the court of justice of a diocesan bishop. It is held in the cathedral church of the diocese for the trial of ecclesiastical causes. At one time it was presided over by the bishop, assisted by some of his clergy; to-day the president is the chancellor of the diocese, or some other commissary appointed by the bishop. It constitutes' a court of appeal from the Archdeacon's court, and appeals from its decisions may be carried to the provincial or archiepiscopal court, and [in England] to the Privy Council.