A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 99, 21 January 1936, Page 7

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Lord Grey of Fallodon

A threefold memorial to Lord Grey of Fallodon is proposed. Viscount Grey, who died oh September 7, 1933, was a great Foreign Minister. As Sir Edward Grey he held that office for . a longer consecutive period than any of his predecessors and strove until the last moment with all his powers to preserve the peace of Europe in the critical days of July aud early August 22 years ago. To him, when all other efforts had failed, it fell to send the ultimatum to Germany demanding that she should respect the neutrality of Belgium, and during the next two years the man who had already borne a very heavy burden of responsibility in peace was called upon to shoulder the still heavier duties of Foreign Secretary in war. The strain was too severe for his strength. In 1916 the eye trouble which later handicapped him so heavily was seriously interfering with his work, and a few months later he retired after 11 years of unceasing labour as Foreign Secretary. After that, though he continued to have a useful influence on the polities and the foreign policy of his country, especially with regard to' the League of Nations, Lord Grey did not pursue an active political career. His activities were rather literary than political. No statesman of our time has received a larger measure of confidence and trust from all parties and classes of Englishmen. The simplicity aud straightforwardness of his character, the unquestionable absence of self-seeking in any form, the combination in him of the gentleman, the sportsman, the naturalist, the lover of literature, the patriot and the hard worker, conquered the respect of all those who worked with him or against him. Boa For Zoo.

A boa constrictor has been brought to New Zealand by a visitor for presentation to the Wellington Zoo. The name boa was once applied to all large serpents which, being devoid of poison fangs, killed their prey by constriction, but now it is confined to a sub-family which are without certain teeth and supraorbital bones. The others are known as pythons. There are about 40 species of the true boa, but most of them are American, The boa constrictor is one of the most common of the species, and has a wide range from tropical Mexico to Brazil. The general colour- is a delicate pale brown, with about a dozen and a half darker crossbars, which are often connected by a still darker dorsolateral streak, enclosing large oval spots. On each side is a series of large dark brown spots with light centres. On the tail the markings become bolder, brick red with black and yellow. The under parts are yellowish with black dots. This species rarely reaches a lengra of more than 10 feet. It lives chiefly on birds and small mammals, and is easily domesticated, being of a veiy gentle disposition. The “boa of women’s dress has been arrived at by analogy

Abyssinian Church. The priests of Endariam, the oldest and most revered. Coptic Church in Abyssinia, have proclaimed the Km? of Italy their earthly protector, it is reported from an Italian source. Christianity was adopted in Abyssinia as far back as the fourth century, though little is known of church history down to the period of Jesuit rule, which broke the country’s connection with Egypt from about 1500 to 166 b. Early in the sixteenth century the Church was brought under the influence~of a Portuguese mission and the initiative iu the Roman Catholic missions to Abyssinia was taken by Portugal. Nowadays, however, the Abyssinians generally agree with the Copts in ritual and practice, the Septuagint having been translated into the literary language, which is used for all services though hardly understood. Saints and angels are highly revered, if not adored, but graven images _ are forbidden. Fasts are long and rigid. Confession and absolution, strictly eu forced, give great power to the priesthood. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem is a religious duty and covers many sins. Germany’s Colonies.

The time when Germany will demand the return of the colonies she lost as a result of the Great War is prophesied by Dr. Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda. By the Treaty of . Versailles Germany ceded all her overseas colonies to the principal Allied Powers. In Africa she lost the Cameroons, divided between Franco and the British Umpire as mandatories; Togoland, to Great Britain as mandatory; South-west Africa, to the Union of South Africa as mandatory ; and East Africa, to Great Britain and Belgium as mandatories. These territories then included some 18,000 Germans and between 12,000,000 and 13,000,000 natives. In the Pacific she lost the Marshall Islands to Japan; her portion of Samoa, to New Zealand. as mandatory; her portion of New Guinea, to Australia as mandatory; and Nauru Island, to the British Empire- as mandatory. She also renounced outright to Japan the peninsula of Shantung, a province Japan subsequently returned to China. In addition to all these cessions of territory, Germany lost all her State property, movable and immovable, in her colonies. She was further obliged to cancel all her treaty rights, capitulations and concessions with countries like China, Liberia, Siam, Egypt ami Morocco. An absolutely clean sweep was made, too, of her transmarine possessions, properties, powers and rights. Even the property and stations of German missionaries were to be handed over to trustees, and the individual missionaries controlled or expelled from the mandated territories at the will of the mandatory. Somalis. Somali irregulars are proving very useful to the Italians in the Abyssinian campaign. Found by many explorers and travellers in Africa to be one of the most intelligent native races, the Somalis, who belong to the Eastern (Ethiopic) Hamitic family of tribes—other members of which have been mentioned in the war dispatches recently—have been identified with the people of Punt, known to the Egyptians of Hie early dynasties. But the Somalis, or Somali as they should really be called, declare themselves to be of Arab origin, alleging their progenitor to have been a certain Sherif Ishak ben Ahmad, who crossed into the Somali country about the thirteenth century. The present Somali peoples arc possessed of no general type. They arc not pure Hamites. and their physical characteristics vary considerably, showing signs of interbreeding with Galla, Afar, Arabs, Abyssinians and negroes. They are warlike and nomadic and are generally very attractive physically.,