Overseas

Southland Times, Issue 22999, 19 September 1936, Page 21 (Supplement)

Overseas

Russia and Germany.

The antipathy between Germany and Russia has reached a point at which the most provoking statements are being made by each nation—statements which not so many years ago would unquestionably have led to war. At the Nazi Congress there were many outbursts by the Nazi leaders against Soviet Russia, the speech by the Minister for Propaganda, Dr. Goebbels, being particularly violent. The Soviet Press replied by describing Goebbels as a dwarf with crooked legs and a complete specimen of a degenerate. When the leader of the Nazi Storm Troops declared that his men were united in hatred of a common enemy and were not afraid of this enemy the Russian papers advised their swinish enemy to keep its snout out of their garden. And so the exchange ■ of pleasantries has run on until many people have wondered why hostilities have not begun. Probably the explanation is that Russia has no desire to go to war and that Germany fears the combined strength of the Russians and the French who remain such staunch allies. The Nazis may hope that their denunciation of Bolshevism will cause a strengthening of the unity among Fascist countries and that before long this unity will be such that the Fascists will make a bid to overthrow by force of arms the Communist bloc. More and more clearly are the countries in Europe sorting themselves into Fascist and anti-Fascist groups; and the League of Nations and other forces working towards international peace may find it very hard to prevent an outbreak some years hence. But in the meantime it is probable that the hatred between these factions will be marked by words rather than deeds. Soldiers Pray for Peace.

There are none who so fully realize the horrors of war as the men who fought from 1914 to 1918. In the beautiful and historic city of Lourdes 150,000 ex-soldiers gathered this week prayed earnestly for the peace of the world. They represented many nations which had been opposed in the Great War. The French and German delegations embraced each other on the railway station, all former enmity having been forgotten in their desire to see the nations living in harmony.

Disastrous Landslide.

In two widely separated parts of the earth landslides took a heavy toll of human life. The collapse of mountainsides in Afghanistan in the middle of a night of storm swept whole villages away, every inhabitant being killed. In the Raven mountains in Norway a disastrous landslide occurred a few days later. It was the huge wave which the falling debris sent up from the lake at the foot of the mountains that caused most of the damage. All except one of the houses in the village of Bodal were demolished by the wave and 74 people were killed and 13 injured. The damage to property was assessed at £30,000.

Not a Creditable Top Place.

The League of Nations has many other useful activities besides trying to keep the peace of the world. One of these activities is the study of diet and nutrition. Each year the League, through its Nutrition Committee, publishes a book showing what different nations eat and drawing inferences from the health of these different people. The latest volume to be published reveals that New Zealanders are the greatest meat-eaters in the world and that other countres in the British Empire are next on the list. In milk consumption New Zealand occupies a much lower place. To have the reputation of being the greatest meateating country is the world is not wholly creditable: it would be far better if, New Zealand topped the list in milk. Fresh fruit, milk and vegetables are not consumed in sufficient quantites in the Dominion; people could well increase these articles of diet at the expense of meat.

Johannesburg Celebrates.

Johannesburg, “the city built by gold,” this week celebrated its 50th anniversary by a British Empire Exhibition. All parts of the Empire are represented and some 3,000,000 people are expected to visit the Exhibition. In 1886 Geldenhuis, a struggling Boer farmer, inspected some outcroppings on his farm, guessed that at last his moment had come, and sent for his friend, Fred Struben, to come over from Pretoria. Struben looked at the out-croppings and came to the same conclusion as Farmer Geldenhuis—gold. The one man who retained his faith in the Geldenhuis mine was George Walker, former employee of Struben. Persistently, miner Walker pegged away and at last struck a rich vein and a gold rush began. Huts sprang up and money flowed in. Now supplying £75,000,000 worth of gold every year (just under half the world’s output), Rand miners fear competition only from Canada and Russia, where output has re•ently shot up. Rand mines employ nore than 300,000 natives and nearly 50,000 Europeans.

China and Japan.

Frequently cable messages come from the Far East stating that complications have arisen between Japan and China. In nearly all cases the Chinese have in some way or other offended the Japanese who seek explanations and apologies. So far these misunderstandings have not led to serious disagreement, but there are a good many people who think that Japan is only waiting for a good excuse to interfere in China and obtain control over that vast country. The Japanese have themselves admitted that they are not anxious to seek territory beyond the Far East, but that their ambition is to control that part of the earth. Whether they will do this by “peaceful penetration” or by force remains to be seen.