A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 73, 20 December 1937, Page 7

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Swiss President

The Minister of Justice, Dr. 11. i mann, has been elected I’resideni Switzerland for 1938.

The supreme power in Switzerla is in the hands of a. Federal Cutin(Bundesrath). In no other model republic is executive power entrust c.i to a Council instead of to a man, am l in no other free country has the working executive so little to do with part} politics.

The Council consists of seven persons, elected by the Federal Assembly for three years. One of the seven is annually chosen by the Federal Assembly to be President of this Council, and another to be Vice-President, and neither may be re-elected to the same post for the following year. Not more than one Councillor can be chosen from any one canton. They cannot during their term of office sit in either House nor hold any other Federal, nor any cantonal post. To each member an administrative department is allotted, for which he is primarily responsible, but the Council meets constantly as a sort of Cabinet for the discussion of important business; all decisions emanate from it as a whole, as does the elaborate report which it presents to the legislature annually; and it speaks as a whole to foreign Powers. The Councillor chosen President for the year has no more power than his colleagues, and is really only their chairman. But he bears the title President of the Confederation (Bundespraesident), is the first citizen of the nation, and represents it on all ceremonial occasions. His salary is 26,500 francs a year, that of each of his colleagues being 25,000. Glasgow

A formal invitation has been extended to the King to open the Empire Exhibition at Glasgow, for which preparations are well advanced. Although Glasgow has done so much for the advancement of shipping ami marine engineering, it was not origin ally a port. Until comparatively recent times the Clyde was an (innavigable river, and it was only through the energy and enterprise of the cili zens of Glasgow that a clear way was opened to the sea.

It was due to the shallowness of the river that a settlement was first established. There was a ford at the point where the city now stands, and consequently several primitive trade routes converged there. The settlement grew into a town, bishops were appointed, and Glasgow became an important ecclesiastical centre.

With the union of England and iScotland in 1707, Glasgow began to import tobacco and sugar from abroad and continued to do so on an everincreasing scale. From that time until the present day, although there have been temporary setbacks and depressions, Glasgow has triumphantly continued its career of prosperity and expansion. In 1773, by dredging the Clyde, ships drawing six feet were able to reach Glasgow, and by 1781 the depth had been increased to 14 feet at low water. Until 1818 ships arriving from foreign countries discharged at Greenock and Port Glasgow (lower down the river. -Towards the close of the eighteenth century Glasgow was one of the foremost centres for the manufacture of textiles. From the invention by James Watt in 1764 of the first practical steam engine on modern lines, Glasgow’s real prosperity dates. Shipbuilding on a colossal scale and the rapid development of the iron and steel industries and marine engineering have made Glasgow the second largest city in the United Kingdom, and an industrial centre of world-wide importance. The city is known throughout the world for the efficiency of its municipal enterprises. The population exceeds 1,000,000. Barbara Hutton

Barbara Hutton, the Woolworth heiress, now the Countess Reventlow. has renounced her American citizenship, and is now a citizen of Denmark. Her husband is Count Haugwitz Keveutlow, a Danish nobleman. Previously she was married to Prince Alexis Mdivani, whom she divorced. Beture marrying her, Prince Mdivani was divorced, in 1932, from Louise Van A leu. of the Astor multi-millionaire family. “Whence came that £10,000,000 which enabled Barbara Hutton to gratify her every whim, to pay 1,000,000 francs in Paris for a black pearl ring, 1 ,000,000 francs for a pearl necklace, and to adopt a general money-no-object attitude toward life?” asked a commentator. “It came from the five-and-ten-eent stores in the United States, from the pennies of the people, and especially the girls and women, who throng the Woolworth stores. “Barbara Hutton had no real home. That was one of her disadvantages. Always on the move from one playground to another, she had no roots anywhere.” Mr. Stanley Bruce Mr. Stanley Bruce, who has had his term of High Commissioner for Australia in London extended for a further five years, is the son of a man who rose from humble beginnings to commercial eminence. His father, the founder of the fortunes of the great importing house of Paterson, Laing and Bruce, had begun life in Melbourne bv sweeping out an office. At IS years of age Stanley Bruce was captain of the Melbourne Grammar School. Afterward, for 12 months, he earned 30/- a week in his father’s firm. His father died in 1901, and as there was very little money for the children until the estate was straightened out (that was not until 13 years later), Stanley Bruce borrowed money to support himself at Cambridge University, and spent every long vacation working in the London office of the firm, still at 30/- a week. At Cambridge, from which he graduated in 1900, he obtained his rowing ’“blue.” He worked in a London solicitor’s office preparing for the Bar, and was called in 1907. Meanwhile, however, he had been made chairman of his late father’s firm. He continued the practice of the law, however, specialising in company law. ami met with considerable success. On the outbreak of war in 1914 he enlisted and served on Gallipoli He was decorated for his services and was invalided home in 1917.

He was elected to the House of Representatives in Australia in 1918, and in 1919 was appointed to represent Ans tralia at the League of Nations Assembly. He did so well that on his return in 1921 Mr. Hughes, Prime Min-

ister, appointed him to the Treasury. Twelve months later he became Prime Minister of Australia. From being a supporter of William Hughes lie later became an opponent. He has been Australian Commissioner in London for a number of years.