OLD DANZIG

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3400, 30 July 1932, Page 5

OLD DANZIG

WAR WITH ENGLAND. Danzig, the Free City under the League of Nations which an Australian syndicate recently thought of as headquarters for an international sweep, once cai-ried on a war against England (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph). In 1471, Paul Beneeke, a Danzig privateer, seized the Lord Mayor of London, Thomas Cook, and held him prisoner until certain horse merchants from Danzig held in London were set free in exchange. These facts are related by G. H. Morrison in a booklet on “Danzig’s lished by the Danziger Verlagsgesellschaft, a copy of which has been foi*warded by Mr. F. A. Lubianski, of Danzig, who points out that as a result of its relation to Germany and Poland (and the Continent) we may learn more of Danzig shortly. To-day Danzig has a population of 400,000, mostly Germans. It is suffering- severely from depression and from the completion of the new Polish port of Gydnia, built nearby. Mr. Mox-rison suggests that what Danzig reallv wants is a declaration by Poland that in no conditions will the sovereign rights of the Free City of Danzig be infringed. There are two postal systems, in Danzig, one belonging to the city, and one Polish, with nineteen Polish letter boxes and thx-ee Polish post offices. And all the railways except those serving the harbour are Polish owned. The management of the port is in the hands of a committee of five Poles and five Danzigers, with a Swiss chairman., There is a resident High Commission ex-, appointed by the League. Mr. Moi-i'ison seems to suggest that the system must sooner or later break down.