1936 NEWS INTEREST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22620, 7 January 1937, Page 9

1936 NEWS INTEREST

LONDON EDITORS' OPINIONS ABDICATION MOST IMPORTANT LONDON, Jan. 1 The editors of national dailies and international news services in London agree that 1936 was the biggest year for great news stories since the war. The abdication of King Edward VIII. easily topped the list. A consensus of opinion puts the stories in the following order of importance in interest to readers: —The abdication. The death of King George V. The fall of Addis Ababa, coupled with tho outbreak of the Spanish war. The Budget leakage, which led to the resignation from the Cabinet of Mr. J. H. Thomas. The re-mi!itarisation of the Rhineland by Germany. The McMahon incident, when a revolver was thrown at the feet of King Edward VIII.'s horse. The devaluation of the franc. The Paris stay-in strikes. The ZinoviefF trial at Moscow. Tho attempted military coup in Japan. The maiden voyage of the Queen Mary. The voyage of the Girl Pat, the "pirate trawler." The Palestine troubles. Roosevelt's triumph. The Crystal Palace fire. It is generally agreed that it is the most important year since 1918. One editor says: "We are not finished with 19.'lti by reading the news on December 3]." The abdication of Edward VIII. will live in history. So will the fall of Addis Ababa, the Spanish war, and tho re-occupation of the Rhineland. Any of these would be sufficient to win an important page in mankind's history. These stories exclude the world's great flights, three of which were women's—Mrs. Amy Mollison's (light to Capetown, Mrs. Markham's conquest of the Atlantic, and Miss Jean Batton's lone flight to New Zealand.