A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 196, 16 May 1936, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Mr. J. H. Thomas The Kt. Hon. J. IL Thomas, who has given evidence in the Budget leakage inquiry, is 58 year old. Born in Newport, Monmouthshire, he commenced work in a chemist’s shop at the age of nine years. At 12 lie was employed in a draper’s shop. Then he became au engine-cleaner with the Great Western Railway Company, rising to be fireman and then engine-driver. In 1898, the year of his marriage, he was the youngest delegate at a railwaymen’s conference. At Swindon he took an active part in local politics, establishing a party in the town and leading it on the council. In 1910 he entered Parliament as member for Derby, a constituency he has represented ever since. He was a wholehearted supporter of Great Britain in the Great War. and .was a member of the Munitions Commission to the United States in 1917, being made a Privy Councillor on his return. He refused office in the War Cabinet, and opposed conscription at all its stages. At considerable personal risk he spoke for Mr. Ramsay MacDonald at the 1918 election. In 1916 he had been made general secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen, an organisation which was mainly his own creation, and he was one of those responsible for calling off the General Strike In 1926. He was Colonial Secretary in the first Labour Government in 192-1. In the crisis of 1931 he supported Mr. MacDonald against the trade unions, resigned his position of general secretary of the railwaymen’s union, and was deprived of his pension rights in the union. Austrian Independence. Dr. Schuschnigg has said that he is determined to maintain the policy of the Rome Protocol. Last year the French and Italian Governments, in consideration of the necessity to maintain the independence and integrity of Austria, agreed that should this independence and integrity be menaced they would consult between themselves and with Austria on the measures to be taken. Salonica. Salonica, where a strike has occurred, is situated on the Gulf of Salonica, an inlet of the Aegean Sea on the northwest of Greece. The harbour is a magnificent one. The city was founded from Corinth in 315 8.C., and became the capital of Macedonia. St. Paul knew it as Thessaloniea, and addressed the two Epistles to the Thessalonians to its Christian people. The Saracens captured it in 904. Venice held it during the Middle Ages. It passed to the Turks in 1430. and remained in their possession until 1912, when it capitulated it to the Greeks. During the Great War a combined British and French force turned the city and the surrounding country into a vast fortified camp. The harbour was extended and improved; roads and additional railway tracks were constructed. In 1916, after a revolt, Venizelos established a Provisional Government there. The people are mostly Jews, the descendants of Jews who fled from persecution in Spain, and these speak a corrupt form of Spanish called Ladino. The city, which rises from the shore in a series* of terraces to a turreted citadel, was half destroyed by fire in August. 1917. Because of its position, it is of considerable strategic importance in the Balkans. The population is 'about 240,000. Defence of the State. It is reported that Signor Mussolini contemplates abolishing the Special Tribunal for the Defence of the State constituted in 1926. This tribunal was constituted to deal with crimes against the State, and attempts on the life of the King, or the chief of the Government. Heavy punishment is meted out to those found guilty. The court is constituted to act sharply. Immediate arrest follows denunciation; there is no bail; no authority exists to terminate the period of custody before the trial. A preliminary examination _ is made by a magistrate who is appointed, is dismissible and is instructed by the Ministry of War. The magistrates are not necessarily trained in the law. Tile presidents and vice-presidents arc appointed by the chief of the Government from high officers of the armed forces and the militia. They are sworn to obey Signor Mussolini, especially as militiamen. The accused may not have legal assistance until the preliminary examination is over. Nor is ho entirely free to choose his counsel, since the president of tlie court can reject his choice and appoint one from among the panel (Fascists, naturally) of the court. Nor can counsel have documents until eight days before tho trial, and even this term may be reduced. Witnesses for the defence are not allowed to appear. Only on rare occasions are the proceedings public, and then only members of the party and the Press are allowed to cuter. There is no jury. Arras Cathedral. The Cathedral of Arras, begun Ju 1755. was not completed until 1834. It was reduced almost to ruins by tho German bombardment during the Great War. Built in the shape of a Latin cross, tho cathedral measures 330 feet in length, 86 feet in width and 106 feet in height. In front is a flight of 48 stone steps, with four landings, the throe entrance doors being almost on a level with tho roofs of the surrounding houses. Japan and the United States. Japanese militarists claim that they are being forced to increase naval exjtenditurc by reason of America s programme and Russia's warlike preparations. The lack of sympathetic understanding. to call it by no stronger name, between Japan and the United States dates from the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. At the peace conference called by President Theodore Roosevelt, Japan, although she gained Korea, was made to forego what she regarded as her just claims in southern Manchuria. Then, at tlie peace conference following the Great War, President Wilson was the chief mover in urging Japan to give back to China Shantung peninsula, which she had captured from the Germans. At the Washington Conference in 1922. tlie United States was again foremost in bringing about a rearrangement of naval strength to the disadvantage of Japan, and was instrumental in bringing to an end tho Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 20 years’ standing. In 1924 Japan felt herself humiliated by the American Exclusion Act. The Japanese people have been made to believe that that Act was aimed at them exclusively. Then, also, the United States has always supported China as against Japan, and practically led the world in refusing to recognise the new State of Maneliukuo. The United States wants to see a strong and united Chinese Republic; Japan does not. w