TOPICS OF THE TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 20395, 26 January 1928, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE TIMES

If the closely-knit organisation of the Fascisti succeeds in stamping out the Mafia it will perform a great service for Italy and the whole of society. The Mafia traces its history back to the ill-disciplined forces of gendarmerie instituted in Sicily by Ferdinand and in general objects it resembles the Camorra, another secret society using terrorist methods. When it was first organised the members of the Mafiuci were admitted after proving their skill with the dagger. The members were sworn to defy all forms of ordered justice. Between 1860-70 the Mafia reached a high pitch of daring and success, carrying on smuggling, robbery and murder in and around Palermo, but later its operations extended to Italy and attempts at suppression were made in 1874-5, but these only achieved a temporary check, for within a few years the Mafia was as active as ever and in the nineties its members had carried terrorism to the United States, particularly in New Orleans. Later, however, the society showed its hand in New York, and a special section of the police had to be created to deal with it. A sensational development came when a famous New York detective was invited to Italy to identify a prisoner as a member of the Mafia. He went to Sicily and there was shot dead. Subsequent inquiries implicated men in responsible official positions, which disclosed some part of the ramifications of the society. The Camorra had its origin in Southern Italy, Naples at one time containing 70,000 members. Garibaldi’s entry into Naples in 1860 resulted in the Camorra losing much of its strength, but it survived into the present century. Both organisations ally crime with politics, but under Mussolini the efforts directed against them have been persistent and fairly successful. The latest message from Rome suggests that the end of the Mafia is in sight—the Camorra has been severely weakened in recent years and now is rarely heard of. M. Robert Esnault has given the details of the coming flight to the Moon, the journey is to occupy 49 hours. The public is not likely to show excitement until it hears that an American newspaper has commissioned the Man there to do the “preliminary” publicity for the trip. On December 1 the largest, most central and most important post office in Berlin, “Brief-Postamt C. 2,” celebrated its first centenary. One hundred years ago Berlin, with its 230,000 inhabitants, possessed only one post office, the court post office, and everybody desirous of posting a letter or receiving one was compelled to journey thither. The establishment of a regulated postal system on December 1, 1827, was a great event, no fewer than sixty receiving centres being simultaneously opened, mostly in shops. The four daily deliveries were effected by thirty-six postmen, one of whom carried the mail on horseback to outlying districts, and the number of letters delivered daily in Berlin was 640, those sent out 420. To-day in the city of four millions there are over 100 post offices, employing 1500 persons day and night. Some 3,000,000 ordinary letters and 50,000 registered letters are attended to daily, and the former figure would be far higher were not telephone communications so very general in Berlin. BriefPostamt C. 2 is also the centre for the Berlin air-post. The entire weight of mail forwarded from Berlin by air this year till the end of October amounted to 180,000 kilograms, that of mail received amounted to kilos. It has often been proposed to open small post offices in Berlin shops (as is the case in England), both for the convenience of the public and for the sake of economy, but the authorities prefer their large—in many cases monumental buildings —to the simpler method.