A BACKGROUND OF THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 244, 13 July 1939, Page 7

A BACKGROUND OF THE NEWS

A Strategic Island In the estuary, of. the river Vistula, at the mouth of which is the Free City of Danzig, is-the little Island of Holm. According to a message from Danzig, this has been ■ declared a closed area, presumably for fortification and conversion into'aii arsenal. The island is an important adjunct to the port, for it lias a natural basin of great potential value as a commercial harbour. In addition, it occupies a strategic posision opposite oiie of Danzig’s shipbuilding yards.' It .dominates the month of the river, which is Poland’s principal and handiest commercial con-necting-link with Danzig. The Vistula, by means of tributaries and canals, actually provides a waterway to Danzig and the Baltic Sea for not only Poland, but also Germany, Lithuania and the Ukraine. Germany’s Air Force

According to the leader of the Hungarian opposition party, the Hungarian General Staff has been informed by the German General Staff that Germany now possesses 34,000 military aeroplanes. This statement, according to the Loudon “Evening Standard,” is accepted in Hungary. If so, the Hungarians are easily convinced, for the claim bears every appearance of gross exaggeration. In November of last year Signor Muratori, an Italian air expert—and, therefore, an observer who would be likely, if anything, to flatter Germany’s position—published an article estimating Germany’s air strength at 3000 first-line aircraft. He considered that the expansion programme would provide a first-line strength of 6000 by 1940-41.

As this article was afterward reprinted by the “National Zeitung,” of Essen, a newspaper closely. associated with Field-Marshal Goering, the German air chief, and offered as one of a series of articles on the German Air Force, it bears the hallmark of accuracy. Moreover, the figures given correspond roughly with the information in the hands of the British military authorities at that time. Battleships For U.S.A.

Two 45,000-tou battleships, which are to be built for the United States Navy at New York and Philadelphia, are to be named the lowa and the New Jersey. These are the principal items on the United States building programme for the fiscal year beginning July 1— n programme calling for the expenditure 773,411,000 dollars. In addition to the two battleships, it is planned to construct two light cruisers, eight destroyers, eight submarines and three auxiliary vessels. The battleships represent America’s answer to the Japanese move to construct 42,000-ton capital ships. They will be the most expensive craft ever built and, on paper, the most powerful fighting ships the world has ever seen. The Eastward Way

Danzig is not an end in itself, writes Professor S. 11. Hoberts, Professor of History in the University of Sydney, in the “Sydney Morning Herald.” If other nations could be convinced that German claims would end -with the evolution of some workable compromise in Danzig, or even with the incorporation of the Free City in the Keich, the position would be very different; but Danzig in only an interim halt in Germany’s onward march of aggression. Although Hitler said in September that he had no further territorial claims in Europe,' his spokesmen have clearly limned the next stages in what Goering calls “the Axis Programme”— Danzig and the polish Corridor first, and then, as a Nazi Senator in Danzig said last week. Tallinn and Cracow. After that is of no consequence at the moment; the single inescapable fact is that Germany looks on Danzig as a door opening the way further eastward. Belgium’s New Canal

The Albert Canal, which has suffered damage in recent floods, is the greatest hydraulic enterprise ever attempted in Belgium. It will provide a direct waterway within Belgian territory connecting Liege, the heart of the industrial region, with Antwerp, Belgium’s greatest port. The canal is designed to accommodate vessels of 2000 tons. Hitherto the distance by land between those two points was 96 miles; 'by the new canal it will be 70 miles. Moreover, the numl>er of locks lias been reduced from 26 to 6, so that allowing three miles for each lock the effective distance will be virtually shortened from 172 to 95 miles. Instead" of 12 days, the journey will now take three days. The construction work was commenced in May, 1927, and the opening is to be celebrated by an international exhibition to be held from May till November of next year. A New Salvation Army Chief Next month in London the High Council of the Salvation Army will meet to elect a successor to General Evangeline Booth. It is reported that there are 23 full commissioners, nine of whom are either past or near the retiring age of 73, and 32 other commissioners. General Evangeline Booth, formerly head of the Salvation Army in the United States, was elected to her present paramount office in September, 1934. By her election the generalship passed once more into the family of the Army's founder, for Eva Booth is the fourth daughter of William Booth, the originator of the movement, and a sister of Bramwell Booth who succeeded bis father as general. In 1929 General Higgins succeeded General Bramwell Booth, whose retirement caused the vacancy filled by the Army’s first woman leader. A Vigorous Career

General Evangeline Booth has now reached the compulsory retiring age, having been 69 years of age at the time of her election. She addressed her fir street meeting in London as a child, standing on a chair. She was appointed to a when in her ’teens, and at the age of 23 had command of all the Salvation Army operations in London. In 190-4 she went to the United States, where, in the years that followed, her remarkable powers as an administrator developed and made their mark in the movement as a whole. In spite of her age General Booth is active, mentally alert, and strong in her sense of humour. Only last month it was reported in the United States Press that after conferring upon her an honorary doctorate of laws, Hr. Nicholas Murray Butler, of the University of Columbia, called her “Doctor.” She replied instantly: "I’m a military woman! Call me ‘General.’” Playfully, Dr. Butler then referred to her as “Doctor General.” but she was not quite satisfied. “Just call me ‘Evangeline,’ ” she said.