A BACKGROUN TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 45, 17 November 1936, Page 7

A BACKGROUN TO THE NEWS

The Versailles Treaty \ By denouncing the ’“river control” clauses of the Versailles Treaty Herr Hitler has now freed Germany from the shackles imposed on the nation by that treaty. By the terms of the treatv Germany was prohibited from having an army of more than 100,000 officers and men. This army was to be a long service one, recruited on a voluntary basis- Conscription was abolished. Germany’s navy was to be little more than a toy affair, of no real use for attack or defence. The size of the ships and guns was strictly limited. Submarines were prohibited. Germany was to be allowed no aeroplanes. The fortifications of Heligoland were to be destroyed, and there were to be no munition factories in Germany except with the consent of the Allied Powers. The Rhineland was to be demilitarised. Germany had to pay war indemnities and reparations for all war damage. All these restrictions have been broken through in the short time that Herr Hitler has been head of the German nation. Her army is now one of the most powerful in Europe, and is based on conscription. She is permitted to have a navy one-third the size of the British navy; and it includes submarines. She is building warships equal in size to any afloat, and guns as powerful as any in the world. She has an air force that is one of the most powerful in the world; how large it is remains a secret. She has munition factories all over the country. She has fortified the Rhineland and Heligoland, and has ceased to pay the war indemnities and reparations. Hitler and the Rivers.

The '“river control” clauses in the Peace Treaty dealing with the Elbe, Oder, Niemen and Danube, are numbered 331 to 353. Article 332 says: “On the waterways declared to be international the nationals, property and’ flags of all Powers shall be treated on a footing of perfect equality, no distinction being made to the detriment of the nationals, property, or flag of any Power between them and the nationals, property or flag of the 4 riparian State or of the most favoured nation. Nevertheless, German vessels shall not be entitled to carry passengers or goods by regular services between the ports of any Allied or Associated Power, without special authority from such Power.’’ Control of the Elbe was placed under an international commission comprising four representatives of the German States bordering on the river; two from Czechoslovakia ; one each from Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium. The commission for the. Oder comprised three representatives of Prussia; and one each from Poland, Czechoslovakia. Great Britain, France, Denmark and Sweden. For the Danube the representatives were two from the German riparian (river bordering) States; one from each of the other riparian States: and one from each of the non-riparian States represented in the future on the European Commission of the Danube.

Elbe, Oder, Niemen, Danube.

The Elbe, a river of North-Central Europe, flows through Czechoslovakia and Germany, emptying itself into the North Sea near Cuxhaven. It is 725 miles long, and T 4 miles wide at the mouth. The tide is perceptible 110 miles from the mouth. There is an enormous traffic along the Elbe, which is navigable by small steamers for more than 500 miles. Immense quantities of timber are floated down stream from the forests of Czechoslovakia. The Elbe is linked by a series of canals with the Oder, the Spree, and the Trave. The Oder, 550 miles long, rises in Czechoslovakia and flows through Silesia and Prussia to the Baltic Sea. There are canal connections to the Elbe and Vistula. The Niemen, 550 miles long, is a river of Russia. Lithuania and East Germany. It rises in Russia and empties itself into the Baltic. With its tributaries, it serves Lithuania.' The Danube is 1780 miles. long; it and the Volga are the two longest rivers in Europe. The Danube has more than 300 tributaries. Taking its rise in the Black Forest of Germany, it flows through Czechoslovakia. Austria, Hungary and Rumania, and empties itself into the Black Sea by five channels. In places the Danube is more than a mile wide and 100 feet or more deep. Some beautiful towns are situated on its banks. Kiel Canal.

Exception is taken by Germany to other Powers maintaining jurisdiction over the Kiel Canal, which was arbitrarily enforced by the Versailles Treaty. The Kiel Canal connects the North Sea and the Baltic. It is nearly 61 miles long. The opening ceremonies, June 19-21, 1895, were made the occasion of an international demonstration, warships of all the leading navies taking part. The ex-Kaiser was the leading personage, Great Britain being represented by the Duke of York, afterward King George V, and the Channel Squadron. On June. 19 the Kaiser declared that the completion of the canal proved Germany’s love of peace. In 1909 work on deepening and widening the canal was commenced to enable it to take the largest warships of the Dreadnought type then being built The canal was deepened to 36 feet, and the surface width widened to 331 feet The reconstructed canal was completed in June, 1914. The passage occupies eight and a half to nine hours. In 1919 Germany agreed, by the Versailles Treaty, that the Kiel Canal and its approaches should be for ever free and open on a footing of perfect equality to the warships and mercantile marine of every nation at peace with her. Portland.

The King paid a visit to the Home Fleet at Portland, and then left from Weymouth by special train for London. Portland is a peninsula of Dorsetshire, known as the Isle of Portland. Connected with the mainland by Chesil Bank, it is four miles and a half long, with an average breadth of one mile. Portland is noted for its building stone, the quarries . being Crown property. Its prison, with accommodation for 800 convicts (many of whom worked in the quarries until the Great War), was in 1921, made into a Borstal Institution. Portland has a harbour of refuge used by the navy. Known as Portland Roads, it covers 2200 acres, and is protected by gigantic breakwaters, two miles long, built by convict labour. The largest of them cost over £1.000.000. The harbour is strongly fortified. The inhabitants. who live by fishing and pasturing small, black-faced sheep, retain some of their old customs. As the Isle of Slingers, Portland is the scene of Thomas Hardy’s story “The WellBeloved.” Weymouth gets its name from being situated near the mouth of the River Wey. 11 is eight miles from Dorset, and 77 south of Bristol. Steamers run from. Weymouth to the Channel Islands.