GERMANY'S NEW LAW

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 143, 14 December 1933, Page 26

GERMANY'S NEW LAW

PEASANT ARISTOCRATS

The Hitler Government has published the text of the so-called hereditary homestead law, effective October 1, which creates in Germany a new "peas: ant aristocracy" based on inalienable and indivisible protection of the ancestral estate and its inheritance by one principal heir, elected according to definite rules among the owner's next of kin (says the "New York Times"). This law, designed by Chancellor Hitler himself and issued on the day following the first national harvest thanksgiving, which rallied the entire German peasantry/ to the Nazi standards, is a continuation of agrarian reform laws designed to take the peasantry "out of the capitalistic system" and to safeguard it as "the blood spring" of the German people. The "new peasant aristocracy" is to consist of peasants who are "German, Aryan, and honourable." They must prove their families have been free of Jewish or Negro blood since January 1, .1800. They must possess estates able to support a family, but not above 300 acres. Only the owners of such estates shall be entitled to be known as peasants. All other owners of agricultural property are to be called farmers. Under the new law, the owners of peasant holdings registered as hereditary homesteads cannot be dispossessed for debt, and their entire possessions, including their crops, are to be exempt from seizure by private creditors. The. "peasant . aristocrat," however, must be'competent and "honourable enough to pay his debts" if the proper administration of his estate permits this. If he does not pay his debts he runs the risk of losing his estate to his principal designated heir. The principal heir is to be determined for purposes of this law by local custom, which in some parts of Germany selects the oldest and in other parts the youngest of the peasant's sons. Where no such local custom exists the owner may select any ■ one among his sons. The other children of peasant owners will be entitled to professional education and equipment commensurate with the size of the father's estate. If they get into distress without fault of their own, they are to have the right of refuge at the ancestral homestead. A New Plymouth report states that the new wave-length of 2YA has resulted in" the Wellington station, formerly "a nightmare for fading," being heard there at fairly constant strength. On the other hand, 2YC fades badly. A woman stated at a London Police Court recently that a neighbour had bought a wireless set and installed it in the front room, and that ever since it arrived it had been "at full blast" from 7 a.m. until 2 a.m. A deputation of neighbours had visited the police, but could get no satisfaction. An ultimatum, she said, was then served on the offending party, with the result that the wireless was shut down at 11 p.m. and removed to the back room, where it continued until 2 a.m. That brought in a new set of neighbours, and a big petition was being organised, but they did not know to whom to present it. The Magistrate, said the only possible step was to seek sin injunction in the High Court. Out of every 10s radio licence fee. paid in Great Britain, 4s 7d goes to the Broadcasting Corporation, as the Post Office takes Is, the Treasury 4s, and the Income Tax Department sd. Of the 4s 7d which-the 8.8.C. receives, the programmes absorb 2s 6d, engineering Is, and administration. Is. .