RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 137, 5 March 1940, Page 6

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights On Current Events (By Kickshaws.) A strong man iu England is stated to be able to lift a steel girder with his teeth. Yes, but. can be open a tin of sardines? V $ V Concentrations of German troops on tiie Swiss border are officially stated Io be resting. Maybe they’ve come for the winter sports. •4 $ ♦ A visitor who ascended in the elevator of the Jack and Jill at the Exhibition, stated when he came down that he had only gone up to see the view. Instead he found himself on the mat. ft * ft Regarding the poisonous qualities of honey taken from wild bees at certain times of the year, discussed recently in this column, a reader has supplied tlie following interesting information: — “Bush honey can be safely eaten provided the bees have sealed it up. It is the unsealed honey that is dangerous. The bees leave the honey unsealed to permit the moisture content to evaporate. During the process the poisonous qualities disappear. Whereas it is dangerous to eat unsealed honey, once the bees have sealed off the comb the honey may be eaten with safety.”

It is reported that, after six months of war, Britain has passed the peak of her aircraft production in the Great War. This means that Britain is now turning out more than 18,000 aeroplanes a year. Nevertheless, the aeroplane, as yet, is playing a role similar to its role iii the Great War. Although London was bombed from the air in the last war, it has not been bombed iu this war, despite the warnings of experts. One may well wonder what is going to be the end of this monster that man has created that flies. At present it has created more problems than it has solved. Au air force, in fact, is becoming a remarkable psychological identity. It has the definite threat value of a guu with a range of 2000 miles. Hitler uses his air force to threaten neutrals with destruction if they fail to toe the line. He used his air force with the same effect against Czechoslovakia and Austria. In Poland he put it to practical use. The threat value of Britain’s air force has prevented Hitler from bombing London and other cities. Mankind has created a bogey which frightens him.

It would seem that the country which produces the largest and most suitable air force will have a dominant position against an enemy that is inferior. It is not so much what one does with a huge air force as what one can do. Not even a dictator would pursue a line of action if he knew that a vastly-superior air force could inflict severe penalties upon his country. The mere threat would stop him. A series of such threats continually imposed reduces an enemy to a state of impotency. Maybe this use of an air force is a diplomatic one rather than a military. It is probable that the neutrals adjacent to Germany will only feel safe from the German Beast when Britain and France have such a huge and modern air force, Hitler will be frightened. It is significant that, in the Great War, Germany was hopelessly outbuilt in the air. If it is going to be a race of this nature in the present war, Germany’s chances become smaller every month. Our threat value is increasing, whereas the German’s threat value has already reached its peak.

The Canadian Government is permitting enlistment of British subjects for the war in Finland. This action is said to make void the Foreign Enlistment Act. Actually, the whole situation is somewhat complicated by the fact that Finland and Russia are not technically at war. The two countries, presumably, are conducting what may be best termed military manoeuvres. Technically, the Foreign Enlistment Act which was passed in Britain in 1870, makes it a penal offence for a British subject to enlist in the service of any State at war with a State with which the Crown is at peace, to induce or assist others to do so, to build commission, equip, or despatch any vessel knowing, or having reason to believe, that she will be employed in the service of any such State, or to fit out any naval or military expedition against any friendly State, without the license of the Crown. Conviction is punished by fine and imprisonment to an unspecified extent and forfeiture of material. In view of the profound peace that technically prevails between Finland and Russia, the Foreign Enlistment Act is an ironical signpost in the history of experience. » * ®

If Finland, is not at war with Russia, the Victorian minds which produced the Foreign Enlistment Act see no incentive for British subjects to assist Fluland. Nevertheless, if they did enter Finland aud started to shoot up Russians, it would be considered a hostile act. But it would not be war. We are still in the era in which “war” cannot take place unless it has received previous advertisement couched in the usual diplomatic language. It would _ a Pl ,ea ( that in the near future the civilized world will have to revise its official ideas about war ‘and peace. In the old days a vicious trade war was considered to be a state of profound peace. We have now reached the stage where a vicious trade war, plus a. vicious period of physical lighting, is considered to be profound peace. Il is just this type oi petice that is engaging the attention ot the Chinese, as well as the Finns, it will be recalled that, at a. time when aggression was a popular word, experts in peace and war after a particularly odious piece of aggression, spent a whole week defining the word aggression. It seems about time that the word war was now defined, even if it takes a year.

The abstention of nationals from fighting in the wars of other countries is founded on common sense. Enthusiastic participation in international quarrels in which other countries arc involved, is apt to produce complicated problems. British subjects who assisted the South against the North during the American Civil War, landed their own Government in a bill of costs amounting to several millions. After the close of this war the victorious North put iu an enormous claim for damages for losses inflicted by “neutral” countries. Indeed, it was on account of this that the British Government passed the Foreign Enlistment Act. Like many panic pieces of legislation, it was passed after the incident in the hope that it would prevent further troubles. Nobody at that tjme though for a moment that a civilized country would go to war without declaring that a state of war existed. The old school tie was supreme in international relationships in those days. In fact, nobody contemplated that any ruler would arise who did not support the old school tie theory. Wo have now reached a stage where tills piece of legislation has given international bandits a strong point for interminable argument