RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 148, 19 March 1937, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events

(By

Kickshaws.)

The first task of the fishing committee, it is understood, is to define a standard for the size of the whopper that nearly got caught. * * * If a trader could sell a few cents cheaper than competitors, why should he not do so? asks a visitor. This, we understand, is a question of more or less cents not being nonsense. s » » The non-intervention committee, we note, recently held a meeting at which no solution was reached. Everything, therefore, appears to be going nor ; mally.

“Would you please tell me through your column the term used to denote a number of grouse collected together?’ asks “P.M.8.H.5.”

[A covey of grouse, gagle 'of women or geese, a hive of bees, school of whales, desert of lapwings, seulk of foxes, fling of oxbirds, sedge of herons, nye of pheasants, paddling of mallard, a" rip of goats, slowth of bears, kyndyll of eats, a tygendis of magpies, a ninmuration of starlings, a wisp of snipe, a skein of curlew when flying, a siege of herons, a fall of woodcocks, a pride of lions, a cast of hawks, a mute of hounds, a cowardice of curs, a singular.of boars, a tribe of goats, a flock of sheep, a clattering of choughs, a tase of fish, and many others are all correct. In many eases the words are little u>ecl to-day, although they still appear in some dictionaries.]

The recently-reported cathedral vandals from a Welsh football crowd who decorated statues with their berets are more understandable than some other vandals. One has only to visit tlie Maori Church at Otaki to appreciate this fact. The church in question is open to the public. One may wander inside and appreciate the solidity of the trees that have been dragged from the forests to build the church. One may become amazed at the intricate weaving and plaiting that covers the walls. But there is nothing more amazing than the one solitary signature scratched on the wall to the right of the altar. There it stands in all its lack of chivalry. A monument to an individual who had not sufficient control of his vanity to resist temptation so childish one wonders the author had the courage to display his lack of taste before the public. Unfortunately his failing is age old. One may see it on tlie pyramids of Egypt, where not all of the scribbling is modern.

It may be correct, as Goering suggests, that the passionate love of the people forms a wall of defence for Hitler against the assassin. Nevertheless, neither Goering nor Hitler place sufficient reliance upon this passionate love to take no further precautions. For that matter, none of the other dictators rely on passionate love to keep them safe. The idea is calculated to make Caesar chuckle. The cold truth is that dictators are the most closely guarded men in the world. Not even the ex-Ktiiser was so closely guarded when he was an emperor, despite the jokes that were made about his travelling bodyguards when he visited England. Every dictator knows that there are always determined enemies plotting to kill him. If it were not for reliance upon secret police, rather than upon the passionate love of the people, the life of a dictator would be a short one. If reliance upon the passionate love of the people is to be the test. Hitler must indeed be astounded at the proof that is given by the British people. Their King is probably the least guarded of all monarchs.

There is little doubt that the Gefniau people do believe that Hitler essential to Germany. For that reason they accept without hesitation tlie uew addition to the legal code making an attempt to kill him the most serious crime that can lie committed. Possibly there was a time when Hitler could walk the streets alone, but that time appears to have passed. Since the blood purge of 1934 Hitler appears in public behind a heavy guard of storm troops. Hitler is guarded at his headquarters, the Kaiserhof Hotel, Berlin, by six burly men armed with automatics. Every person who crosses the threshold virtually comes under fire. At the Chancellory Hitler has anothei special guard. This guard consists usually of about 100 blackshirts. They carry rifles ami wear steel helmets. Two may be seen at the main gates, others in the reception rooms. Two guard the courtyard door. The corridors swarm with guards carrying automatics. When Hitler drives in a car his black Mercedes accommodates, besides himself and his chauffeur Schreck, live sharpshooters witli rifles between their knees and automatics at their belts. Anyone walking toward the ear from the pavement would get about two yards before a bullet stopped him. Such is the reliance placed by Hitler on the passionate love of the crowds.

Protagonists of the dictatorship in Germany may well argue that if Hitler takes precautions to avoid being assassinated other dictators also do so. They might point to Mussolini and ask how many guards followed him into Tripoli recently, when, mounted on a white Arab horse, he made his stage entrance. It has been said that Mussolini ignores precautions more than anyone else, being convinced that destiny has marked him down to die in his bed. Certainly he has suffered and escaped more attempts on' his life than any other modern dictator. Some say his escapes are in no small way attributable to his wise precaution of weariiig a bullet-proof vest as a voluntary contribution to destiny. In spite of this, however, those pictures that show Mussolini striding forward, as on to a stage, unprotected and alone, are only half the picture. He is carefully guarded wherever he goes. A special force of 300 picked men are responsible for his safety. These men are all in plain clothes. With uniformed Royal Carbineers they guard his Villa Torlonia. They also guard his office at the Palazzo Venezia. Moreover, everyone in the square outside is kept on the move. No loitering is allowed.

Regarding cousins, a reader says: ‘‘Among Roman Catholics there are many cases, though not in British countries. of men marrying the daughters of their sisters by special dispensation from the Popx>. One well-known ease is that of one member of the Royal Family of Italy, who married hi s niece. I have personally known two men, both of Spanish origin, who married tlteii nieces. In one case there were tw« sons, one of whom was a fine specimen of manhood mentally and physically while the other was neither a congenital idiot nor a deaf mute, though ho was perhaps rather wanting in vigour. In the second ease I know that one sou was rather deaf though by no means mute, but I have no knowledge of the other members, if any, of the family.”