Storm Troops

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 24 January 1939, Page 10

Storm Troops

Notes on the News

Herr Hitler lias decreed*hat all men, affcr the completion of their military service, will be attached to the Storm Troops for the maintenance of their ment_al and physical fitness. In the early days of his campaigning, and before his rise to power, I-lerr Hitler had his meetings disturbed by Communists. Never did he dream of relying on police protection, for he knew that police protection discredited any cause in the eyes of the masse?. He dealt with disturbances by energetic leadership at the meetings and by gradual organization of the ushers and “bouncers” iuto an ‘ , Orduertrupi>e.’ > In the summer of lOliO the Ordnertrtippe was definitely organized, and by the end of the year it had hundreds of members, nearly all young men—ex-sol-diers most of them.

The Ordnertruppe became the “Sturin-Abteilung,” or Storm Division of the party, on August 3, 1921. These Storm Troops were uniformed in brown shirts, though black shirts and uniforms were later adopted fo r the smaller and more select armed guard of the Schutzstaffel (S.S.), the first unit of which was established in February, 1921. The brown-uniformed S.A. men or storm troopers were from the beginning organized on strictly military lines, copied even in detail from the Reichswehr. Since the membership of the S.A. has remained a carefully guarded secret, estimates of its size at various periods differ widely. Iu discipline, organization, and morale, the S.A. is a military force. It was designed, however, not to fight foreign foes, but to combat other parties, specially the Communists, in mass demonstrations. The Grand Mufti It is said that many moderate Arabs are being led to ask whether the obstinacy of the Grand Mufti and his associates, in pursuing a policy which is thought to serve the cause of certain foreign Powers better than it does that of the Arabs, may not be because of gpl 1 ’ The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin A 1 Hussaini, has always had a great deal of power as combining iu his person the headship of the Church and the Law, so closely connected in the Islamic religion. lie was born in 1895. He received his education in Jerusalem, passing through tie elementary and secondary schools; studied Arabic language and literature, Moslem theology, and French, under private teachers; studied for a short time at A 1 Azhard and the school of Shaika Rashid Redha, in Cairo. He accomplished his first pilgrimage to Mecca when only 17. and still a student. When the Great War broke out he was conscripted into the Turkish forces and served with his regiment after studying at the Military School of Reserve of Officers, In Istanbul, his military duties taking him to Ankara and the Black Sea. After the Allies’ victory he returned to Jerusalem, where he took up the Arab cause with enthusiasm, working at the formation of clubs and societies and being part founder of the Arab Club and the Rawdat-Al-Maaref College. In 1920 he was Implicated in disturbances and was condemned by the Military Council to 10 years’ imprisonment. He escaped to Trans-Jordan, however, and the sentence was repealed during his absence. After his return to Jerusalem he was elected Grand Mufti.

He has since taken a prominent part in many political events. Iu 1920 he went to Mecca to assist at the General World Moslem Conference, and iu 1930 visited London. In 1932 he was elected president of the World Islamic Congress held in Jerusalem, and in 1933 he headed a delegation that travelled to Iraq. India. Afghanistan. Baluchistan, and Persia, to collect funds to establish a World Moslem University in Jerusalem. In 1935 he presided over a meeting at which it was announced that any Arab who sold land to the Jews would be excommunicated. The “brains” of the present revolt, and of previous revolts, he Is now an exile in Syria.

The Mufti is very bitter against the British Government. “I am not against the Jews,” he says. “I am against the British Government, for without its permission not all the money in the world would have given the Zionists a footing in Palestine.” At the root of the Mufti’s opposition is the prospect of a possible Jewish majority and of the effect that such a change would make in the status of the Arabs. Termites > The discovery of what are believed to be millions of subterranean termites has. been made by an Auckland builded. Termites are a family of insects often, but erroneously, called white ants. Termites are remarkably ant-like, however, in their manner of life. Most of the species dwell together in populous communities, the social organization of which is highly complex. The members of a termitarium, that is a community or state of termites—vary in number from a few hundreds in some species to millions—it may be hundreds of millions—in others. They are always divided into several grades, or casts, distinguishable by their appearance.

Wherever they pass leave a trial of devastation. Furniture, clothing, books, Hour, and grain are quickly devoured, while woodwork is rapidly reduced to a heap of powder and chips. Only Iron and the hardest stone appear to daunt them. It is even said that they are able to injure glass by means of their corrosive saliva.

Years ago a species of termite was accidentally introduced into the island of St. Helena. It increased and multiplied to such an extent that Jamestown was soon reduced literally to ruins, and new buildings had to be erected.

Physically the termites are a feeble folk, much relished by birds and beasts, and can take no undue risks. They, therefore, approach the object of their desire through tunnels and covered ways, so that in tropical countries it is not an uncommon occurrence to find doors and window frames crumbling away without visible signs of decay.

When termites obtain access to a building, they eat away all the interior of the woodwork, nlways leaving a thin outer shell intact, and never once coming out into the open themselves. In countries where they abound it is a rare thing to see a termite, though the evidences of their existence arc every where all too apparent.