A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 162, 5 April 1938, Page 9

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dr. Sigmund Freud The Austrian psycho-analyst. , Dr. Sigmuiid Freud, has been invited to take refuge in Holland, but has been refused a passport by the German authorities. Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 at Freiberg, Moravia, and took his doctorate of medicine in the University of Vienna in 1882. Three years later he began to teach nervous pathology, and since 1902 has held the title of Extraordinary Professor on that subject in Vienna. He edits various johruals tf psychiatry. It was in 1900 that Professor Freud' published his first volume in which his own contributions to knowledge alpear. This was his ‘‘lnterpretation o' Dreams.” He has been writing exteu sively since. In 1903 he founded the Vienna Psycho-analytical Circle, and by 1906 branches were established in other; ' countries. In 1908 his influence spread rapidly, and the first Psycho-analytical. Congress was held at Salzburg. In 1909 he visited the United States, and on his return the International Psychoanalytic Association was formed. He ha’s written his autobiography. Freud made the discovery that many neurotic affections, such as hysteria, were, due to a conflict between the conscious and the unconscious parts of the mind, the conscious endeavouring -to a’ct in conformity with social training and the restraints of civilisation, while the unconscious was endeavouring to find an outlet for primitive tendencies which had been suppressed, or partially" suppressed, by the patient. /By gradually bringing the suppressed material Into consciousness so that the patient understood his . mental conflict the symptoms were found to disappear. For this purpose Freud devised the method known as psycho-analysis. London’s Reservoirs Plans for the construction of a new storage reservoir for London at Walton, Surrey, estimated to cost £1,217,000, have been approved by the Metropolitan Water Board. An additional reservoir is already, under, construction at Staines and will, cost £1,191,998. Walton-on-Thames, in Surrey, is built on the left bank of the Thames, and is largely a residential suburb of London. The Norman church of St. Mary contains interesting monuments and a curiosity in the shape of a scold’s bridle, bearing the date of 1632. In' the neighbourhood are some old manors, including Walton Manor, where. Bradshaw, who figured so largely in the - trial of Charles I, lived. Oatlands (a magnificent palace of Henry VIII’s) and Ashley Park, built by Wolsey, and for some time the residence of Oliver .Cromwell, are nearby. Staines, in Middlesex, stands on the Thames where the Colne flows into it,? 19 miles from London. It was a Saxon? settlement, the name meaning stone, an important boundary stone being erect-' ed there in ancient times. The trial of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1603 took place in the old market house there. Nearby is Runnymede. In the neighbourhood are market gardens, and cattle fairs are held. ' Metropolitan Water Board The London Metropolitan Water Board serves an area of 573 square miles. The charges are levied on net annual value at such, rate, not exceeding 81 per cent, as the board may fix. the charge for 1937-38 being 6 per cent, on net annual value. The net water rental for 1936-37 was £5,378,212. The capital debt on March 31,1937, amounted to £54,026,120, the interest paid being £1,702,308. -■ - ~ The estimated population served was 7,900,000, the number of services being 1,438,600. The annual supply was 105,701,600,000 gallons (representing 471,900,000 tons), a daily average of 289,590,000 gallons.

One of the sources of supply is the New River Company’s undertaking inaugurated in the reign of James 1 (1609) by Sir Hugh Myddeltou to bring water from Am well and Chadwell, Herts, to London. ' The chairman and vice-chairman of the board are unpaid. The clerk of the board and Parliamentary officer receives’a' salary of £2250; the chief engineer, £5000; the treasurer and comptroller, £1800; the director of water examination, £2200; the solicitor. £1600; the surveyor, Toulouse

With . headquarters at Toulouse, Field Marshal Sir Philip Chetwode will conduct a plan of .exchanging prisoners'and hostages and other persons detained by the two parties in the Spanish civil war.

Toulouse, a city of France, • stands on the Garonne in a wide plain, the Gate of Toulouse, 443 miles from Paris. Built on both sides of the river, it is a manufacturing and market town, being served by a‘network of railways and canals. The old town is on the right bank of the river; around it on both sides are modern suburbs. llts industries include the' .making of (silk and woollen goods, flour, tobacco, agricultural implements and boots and shoes, and it is a market for the agricultural produce of Languedoc, and a banking and commercial centre. The city has some remarkably fine centuries-old buildings, and is a centre of art and learning. It dates from Roman times. The population is more than 180,000. Trade On The Yangtse

Shipping circles in Shanghai are perturbed at orders from the : Japanese which are claimed to violate the Yangtse Treaty rights of trade on the Yangtse-kiang River. The Yangtse-kiang River forms the main artery of trade, commerce, and every form of «aniniunication with Central China, and thus opens up to foreign trade the greater part of Chinn proper. The Yangtse basin absorbs no less than 60 per cent, of the foreign trade of the whole country. As far as China proper is concerned the Yangtse basin forms the heart of the'country, With an area of close upon 600,000 square miles, and a population of about 200,000,000. It is the region where tea, rice, silk and cotton abound. The area is rich also in coal and iron; and it is a great manufacturing region. It is the region also of the great treaty ports open to foreign trade, including Shanghai, Chinkiang, Wuhd, Hankow, Changsha and Chungking. The length of the river is 3200 miles. The Chinese know the Yangtse as “Kiang,” “The River” par excellence, and the names by which it is known to foreigners is unknown among them. Actually the Chinese have several names for the river, these referring to particular sections of* the river, and are more or less local in their use. The river is navigable from the sea to a point oyer 1600 miles up. It takes its rise in Tibet 16,000 feet above, sealevel.