LITTLE MAN OF AUSTRIA

Taranaki Daily News, 21 October 1933, Page 9 (Supplement)

LITTLE MAN OF AUSTRIA

DR. DOLLFUSS DEALS WITH NAZIS. FIVE-FEET OF COURAGE. Everyone loves a plucky little man, and Dr. Dollfuss, the five-feet of courage who is Chancellor of Austria, has been winning world-wide support in his fight for the independence of his country (says the Children’s Newspaper.) Ever since the triumph of the Nazis in Germany there has been a strong movernent for the inclusion of all Ger-man-speaking peoples within the new Germany, and Austria has been subjected to intense Nazi propaganda. The Nazi Party in Austria has been strengthened by agitators from over the border and has resorted to violent methods, while by prohibiting Germans from taking their holidays in Austria Herr Hitler’s Government has tried to make Dr. Dollfuss’s Government unpopular. ATTACKS ON OFFICIALS. No sooner had Dr. Dollfuss set out for the Economic Conference in London than bombs were used by Nazis in Austrian towns and attacks were made on officials. The Government acted with vigour, appointed Commissioners to control the Provinces, closed down 170 Nazi local headquarters, and arrested Herr Habicht, a Reichstag Deputy the German Government had appointed Nazi Inspector for Austria. The German Government retaliated by arresting Dr. Wasserbaeck, who had been at the Austrian Legation for ten years and was immune from arrest. It was a dramatic event, for as soon as he heard that the police were comifig he telephoned to London for advice from Dr. Dollfuss, who ordered him not to yield except to force. He was expelled from Germany, but the Chancellor promptly called him to an official post in London. , ' Dr. Dollfuss then flew back to Vienna. Further outrages were committed by Nazi terrorists with the result that the Cabinet. dissolved the Nazi Party,, completely forbidding all its activities in Austria. ITALIAN AND FRENCH SUPPORT. These incidents show how firmly the little Austrian Chancellor is standing up for the independence of his little country, which numbers only six millions against Germany’s sixty. Austria has always stood for peace since the war, and the 'other nations have helped her with loans. Dr. Dollfuss is endeavouring to raise a loan of 300 million schillings, and both Signor Mussolini and M. Heriot are supporting him. The most beneficial future for Austria would be in economic federation with the States on the Danube, and this would assist the general peace and security of Europe, for Italy has no desire for Nazi rule on the border of her new provinces, in which many Germans are citizens, and France has ever opposed the union of Germany and Austria. It is a good thing that Austria, in her time of crisis,, has found a leader and a popular leader, too, to judge from the many humorous stories which are being told about him and his diminutive stature. One of the stories is that he once got so angry that he jumped on a chair to bang his fist on the table! May he succeed in stamping-out that violence and reaction which has so marred the good name of his neighbour.

NO NEWS FOR 7 MONTHS LONELY LIGHTHOUSE. . DOG ON ICE-FLOE ONLY VISITOR. There is a man near Newfoundland who, with his family, has been entirely cut off from the world for seven months. He is Mr. Ernest Abbott, lighthousekeeper on Peckford Island, a tiny place, little bigger than a rock, off the coast of Newfoundland, one of the loneliest lighthouse stations in the world. Except for a mail on December 20, not a word did this family hear of the outside world from October 4 to May 2, and during those seven months .not a soul landed on their tiny island in the Atlantic—not a human soul, that is to say, for a strange visitor did arrive one stormy night in March. It was a large sheepdog, swept to these rocks on an ice-floe —from where no one knows. He was very thin and weak, and had probably been on the ice some time. Once they had recovered from their amazement the Abbott family were overjoyed to have a new face among them, though it was only a doggy face; and as for the children, they, no longer wondered what fresh game to play at. It is difficult for us to imagine what it must be like to be left alone in this way for seven months, hearing no news and being able to convey none.

A NEW SLEIGH. A huge motor-sleigh is being built, at Moscow for use in forthcoming Russian Arctic expeditions. It can travel under its own power in the deep snows of Siberia, and can be converted into a car for running on ordinary roads within a few minutes. The sleigh lias cabin accommodation for four people, and will carry half a ton of luggage. SHADOWS. A Shadow is a friendly thing, So long as it is small, An’ while mine’s quite a little shrimp, I don’t mind it at all. But what I do not like a scrap Is when it grows, an’ scares a chap ! I know, for I was walking by A wall, the other day, When such a grim an’ grisly thing Appeared, to bar the way. I turned to run, ’twas close beside, An’ nowhere could I find to hide. An’ just when I was trying hard To keep the tears away, The sun popped in behind a cloud, An’ all the world turned grey. The awful creature that I feared Had absolutely disappeared ! I looked in front, I looked behind, The sun peeped out again, An’ there upon the ground it sat — That creature, plain as plain. An’ oh ! I was ashamed to see My Shadow had been scaring me !