A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 138, 6 March 1936, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Britain’s Frontier The While Paper containing Great Britain’s plans for defence ard said to be largely a sequel to Mr. Stanley Baldwin’s statement that “Britain’s frontier is on the Rhine." Speaking in the House of Commons on July 30, 1934, Mr. Baldwin said: “Since the day of the air the old frontiers are gone; when'you think of the defence of England you no longer think of the chalk cliffs of Dover, you think of the Rhine.” Conscription in Germany. Reference is made in Great. Britain's plans for defence to the introduction of conscription in Germany. In March, 1935, the German Government announced its decision to introduce compulsory service for its defensive forces and to maintain an army of 36 divisions. (A division in Germany is ‘15,000 men.) In this action it was contravening the Treaty of Versailles, which by Article 173 required the abolition of compulsory service in Get* many, and by Article 160 limited the army which Germany might maintain to seven divisions of infantry and three of cavalry, totalling not more than 100,000 officers and men. Germany contended, however, that it was justified in its disregard of the treaty, because —it claimed —the Allies had not observed the terms of the preamble to the military clause. It was an open secret for months, if not years, before the German Government announced its intention to maintain a force far in excess of that permitted by the treaty, that it was organising an army on the largest scale. At the Disarmament Conference in 1933 it demanded the right to maintain a short-service army of 300,000, instead of the longservice army of 100,000 which was sanctioned at Versailles. It has ample resources in officers and experienced officers, as there are about 6,000.000 men who served in the war, with thorough training. World Armaments.

The White Paper gives details of the recent great growth of armaments in various countries. From latest information Britain’s regular army comprises 198,587 officers and men, 57,55-1 being stationed in India, and 141,033 at Home or at various points outside India; United States, 136,975, of whom 39,147 are stationed abroad; France, 215,000; Germany, 540,000; Italy, 250,000; Russia, 562,000; Poland, 265,000; Serbia, 110.000; Rumania, 141,000; Sweden, 28,120; Japan, 328.000; Belgium, 67,000; Bulgaria. 21,000; Switzerland, 46,200; Spain, 136.000; Portugal, 31,000; Czechoslovakia, 140,000; Greece, 48,000; Hungary, 35,000; Turkey, 110,000. These are peace-time strengths. In the Continental countries and in Japan service is compulsory. The war-time strengths, o£ course, would be many times larger. An Ultimatum.

A resolution from the League of Nations Council, sent to Italy and Abyssinia with a view to bringing to an end the present conflict, was altered to avoid having the appearance of an ultimatum. Au ultimatum (from the Latin, ultimus, last) is the final terms or conditions presented after inconclusive negotiations by one State or party to another, usually with time-limit for acceptance or rejection. An ultimatum may be given in order to put an end to delaying tactics on the part of an opponent, or may offer terms impossible of acceptance, and so lead to war. The ultimatum from' Austria-’ Hungary to Serbia in June, 1914, which precipitated the Great War, was of the latter class.

Danubiari Problems. Signor Mussolini is desirous of bringing about an arrangement for collective security that would help to stabilise Central Europe.- He would like to see Austria, Czechslovakia, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Hungary and Bulgaria agree to their present boundaries and to mutual guarantees of integrity. France and Great Britain would also like to see this. Hence the action they took at Stresa. The three Powers joined, there in recommending that the Little Entente (Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Rumania) agree to the rearmament of Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria in return for a system of collective guarantees. But the Little Entente does not trust Hungary and Bulgaria, which are fiercely discontented with their boundaries. They have also declared that it is inconsistent for the Great Powers, which have been condemning German rearmament, to recomiAend it in the case of the neighbours of the Little Entente. Nor does this complete the opposition. Both Hungary and Bulgaria are unwilling to exchange their signatures to a mu-tual-guarantee system for the mere right to rearm (in fact, they are secretly rearming), when what they want is a revision of their frontiers. The Little Entente and Greece will not oppose rearmament if Bulgaria and Hungary will join them in a six-Power pact of non-aggression and mutual assistance. Opium.

Opium valued at £lOOO and elaborate paraphernalia for its cooking and smoking have been seized by Customs officials in Melbourne. Opium is obtained by incising or slashing the seed-cases of the opium poppy and collecting the milky juice whichit exudes. Poppy-growing for opium is carried on mainly in Asia Minor, Persia and India. In these countries the product is generally eaten, opium-smoking being carried on mainly among the Chinese and in places "where Chinese are largely employed. Opium, in moderation, is said to be a stimulant; carried to excess it results finally in the complete physical and moral ruin of the victim. The headquarters of the trade, tv hick used to be in Turkey, are now in Bulgaria The main work in endeavouring to stamp it out has been done, and is still being done, through the League of Nations, which is tackling it on an international scale. Chesapeake Bay.

Chesapeake Bay, in which, on the small island of Tangier, 1500 inhabitants are actually in danger of starvation as they are completely ice-bound, is the largest inlet ou the Atlantic Coast of the United States of America, in the States of Virginia and Maryland dividing the last-named into two portions. It is a drowned valley, and on its shores are Baltimore, and Annapolis, in Maryland- Norfolk, Newport News and Portsmouth in Virginia. Many rivers, including the Potomac, flow into it. Its length is 200 miles, and its breadth (12 miles at the entrance) varies between four and forty miles. It is navigable for large vessels for a considerable distance.