A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 159, 2 April 1937, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Japanese Diet

Ah Imperial ordinance has been issued dissolving the Diet in Japan, and a general election will be held on April 30.

The Japanese Diet, unlike the British Parliament and the Parliaments in the Dominion, is empowered to take part in the legislation, but has “no share in the sovereign power.” That is, it has power to deliberate upon laws, but none to determine them. The constitutional functions of the Diet are. first, to share in the legislation, and secondly and indirectly to supervise the administration. It has the right to receive petitions; the right to address the Binperor and to make representations to him; the right to put questions to the Government and demand explanations; and the right to control the management of the finances. The House of Peers has members of the Royal Family, representatives of the nobility, persons who have been nominated by the Emperor “on account of meritorious services to the State” or of “erudition,” and elected representatives of the highest taxpayers. The total membership is about 407. The quality of the members of the House of Peers indicates that it is indeed a bulwark of the special classes, the present rulers.

The House of Representatives is elected by all male Japanese subjects, with certain exceptions, over 23 years of age; those over 30 being eligible for election. The membership is 466, and at the 1933 election was made up of the following parties: Rikken Seiyukai (Conservative), 304; Rikken Minseito (Liberal), 104; Kokumin Domei, 32; Shakaitaishuto (Socialist Mass Party), 3; Nihon Kokkasshakaito (Japan National Socialist Party), 1; Independents, 9; vacancies, 13. Seats may be left vacant if the Minister of Home Affairs makes no decision as to the date of a by-election, and during the last few years'there has been no such election. Japanese Election.

At a Japanese general election the voter has the right to cast one vote only by the procedure of secret ballot. Any qualified person can be a candidate for a seat in the House of Representatives by giving notification to the Chairman of the Election of the constituency in which he presents the deposit of 2000 yen, either in cash or in Government bonds.

It is strictly prescribed by the Law of Election that the expenses of the election campaign for each candidate must not exceed the amount obtained when the total number of the electors registered on the final electoral list, divided by the number of members to be elected in the constituency, is multiplied by 40 sen (£4OO at par). The Government allows to the candidate one letter postage free for each elector in his constituency.

The legal limit of electoral expense is nominal and it is generally known that three or four times the official amount often is spent by the candidate on the direct purchase of votes and other methods of bribery. Elections have been, especially recently, so expensive that those who stand as candidates often lose their fortune. The result is that working-class or socialist candidates find it almost impossible to get returned. Ludendorff and Hitler.

The long-standing quarrel between Herr Hitler and General Ludendorff has been composed. Friends in 1923 at the time of Herr Hitler’s abortive putsch, and later tried together for high treason, they afterward became bitter enemies.

Tn 1923, Herr Hitler, President of the National Socialist movement since July, 1921, planned to march on Berlin from Munich, overthrow the Central Government, proclaim himself President,' and set up a new Cabinet under the military dictatorship of General Ludendorff. 'He did not disdain republics. but only the existing republic. By November the Hitler party had decided for action. Hitler made his -plans known to the rank and file of his followers —-a Hitler-Ludendorff dictatorship, first to secure control in Bavaria and then the march via Red Thuringa upon Marxist Berlin. Having proclaimed himself formally President of the Reich and announced Ludendorff as military dictator, Hitler placed the majority of the Bavarian Ministers under arrest and seized the Wehrkreis Commando, which he occupied as headquarters. He then proceeded to assign to his supporters the various high offices of Bavaria and the Reich. At 6 o’clock next morning they left the headquarters, and with General Ludendorff at the head, followed by Hitler, the staff, and a strong bodyguard, they began a march which was intended to be a demonstration of their cause. But being armed, the cortege could only be regarded by the military as a movement against the soldiers seut to stop them. At the Hall of Victory, iu the heart of Munich, the marchers came into collision with pickets of the Reichswehr and police. Shots were exchanged, and one or two men on both sides were killed or wounded, when Ludendorff strode forward and the fighting ceased. Such of the Hitlerites as could escape stampeded, Hitler among them. Three days later Hitler was captured at Ufling, on Lake Staffel, offering no resistance. Following a farcical trial in which he became the accurer rather than the accused, Hitler was imprisoned. Field-Marshal von Blomberg. Field-Marshal Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg is to represent Herr Hitler at the coronation. Born iu 1878 at Stargard in Pomerania, he comes of a distinguished officers’ family. He entered the army, and for a long time his promotion was very slow. He was second, lieutenant in 1897, first lieutenant iu 1907, captain in 1911. and iu 1925 only colonel. After 1928 his rise was extremely rapid. He was major-general in 1928, lieutenantgeneral in 1929, full general in 1930, Minister of Defence in 1933, colonelgeneral in 1934, and Field-Marshal more recently.

He is described as being by no means a typical Prussian officer. “Pleasant, cordial, calm, rather soft in manner, he is the last remove from a martinet, a goose-stepper. He speaks languages ; has travelled widely. He wears his hair rather long and combed backward, whereas most Reichswehr officers are punctiliously cropped.” Although he has known Herr Hitler since 1933 only, he is passionately devoted to the Fuehrer. He was recommended to Herr Hitler by Ludwig Mueller, then a military chaplain, one of Herr Hitler’s best friends, who is now Reichsbishop of the entire Protestant Church in Germany.