NEWS AND OPINIONS

Evening Star, Issue 23083, 8 October 1938, Page 3

NEWS AND OPINIONS

A PERSONAL ARGUMENT The correspondence between Mr Wickham Steed and Lord Rothermere on a recent article by the latter on Czechoslovakia and Germany (in the ‘Daily Mail’) discloses, as might be expected, a /Signal contrast in capacity so far as dialectic is concerned. It is not an exercise in which Lord Rothermere shines. But both writers might have profited a little by second thoughts. When Mr Steed reminds Lord Rothermere that two of his sons fell in the Great War and asks what they would think of his present line, when Lord Rothermere tells Mr Steed what Lord Northclifie thought of him (Mr Steed) in the last weeks of his life, and Mr Steed rejoins (quite truly and justifiably) that Lord Northchffe in the last weeks of life was not capable of holding a coherent opinion about anything, the “ argumentum ad hominem M seems a less ami less engaging instrument of controversy. It may be noted that though the correspondence was circulated to the Press generally onlv two London papers, the ‘News ‘ Chronicle ’ and the ‘Daily Herald,’ published it. —“ Janus, m the ‘ Spectator.’ DOUBLE NATIONALITY A curious feature of German nationality laws has been brought to mv attention, writes the London diarist of the ‘ Evening Standard. A man who recenly obtained a certificate of naturalisation in this country was anxious to be released from his German citizenship, so that he could travel in Germany under the protection of the British Government. But the German authorities refused to grant his application for release. They pointed out that by becoming a British subject he had only forfeited his rights as a German, but not his duties, and if he returned to Germany would b© treated as a (jermaii. He can, therefore, be . prosecuted if he does not register at the German embassy in London,, and if be does not comply with all the regulations applicable to German residents abroad. And the point is of particular importance to bun in view of the latest Nazi decree, for this declares that all German emigrants to England who are still registered as German citizens must declare the value of their property before the end of July.

TALLER ITALIANS The Italians are growing taller under the Fascist regime. This discovery, says an official statement, has been made by the Central Statistical Institute by investigations conducted. over; the past decade. It has, therefore, been decided to raise to 1.65 metres (about sft Sin) the minimum standard of height for cadets entering the military academies for infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineers, and 1.75 metres (about sft 9in)" for members: of the Carabinieri. • «In welcoming this news the Press emphasises that the Fascist campaign to improve the quality of the race has not been in vain. TRAIN SAVED BY WAVING HANDKERCHIEFS _ Two men who ran along a railway; line, waving handkerchiefs to stop an. oncoming train,. prevented what might have been a serious crash at Midsomer Norton, Somerset, on a recent night. The train pulled up just in front of a damaged bridge across a road. A short time before a lorry carrying a heavy crane had struck the bridge, damaging the superstructure. Debris was scattered on to’the line. Mr Ashley Cook and Mr Cyril Maggs, who live near, rushed to the scene on hearing a crash, and warned the trains* Further traffic was held up, both on the road and the railway, until ths bridge had been examined. DRIVERLESS TRAIN RUNS THREE MILES A crowded passenger express train ran three miles in Ohio recently with no one in the cab of the locomotive, and then stopped of its own accord, the pas. sengers knowing nothing of the risk, they had run A boiler in the engine of the train, which is known as the St. Louisian, burst 1 near Selma, Ohio, and the engine driver and fireman were either blown out of the cab or jumped out, for their'dead, bodies were found alongside the track. They had been scalded and suffered fractured skulls. The train stopped at a curve in the line when it lost steam, and the brakes were automata cally applied as. the air pressure coif trolling them was reduced.