UNEASY AUSTRALIA; , WEDDING IN ROME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18971, 21 January 1930, Page 8

UNEASY AUSTRALIA; , WEDDING IN ROME.

A WEEKLY REVIEW.

'Written for the “ Star ”

By

Bystander.

Just before the close of last year the Newcastle miners decided to establish a Labour Defence Corps for the Northern district. At the same time, in defiance of the special legislation passed last November to protect “free” labour, a resolution in favour of “continuous picketing” of all the closed mines was adopted. The effect of these preparations was made manifest by the end of the first week of the new year. A body of 4000 miners marched to one of the collieries and assaulted two “free” miners going to work. At the same time regular drilling of the strikers was begun, and has been carried, out systematically ever since. By the end of last week a veritable reign of terror was said to be developing in the Northern district. Picketing and continual threats to employers and “free” workers are part of the miners’ programme, and the general public, as well as the colliery owners, are beginning to feel the strain. Australia’s Civil War. On Monday last a crowd of 1000 threatened a few policemen, and there was a dangerous riot in which the women urged the men to “clean up” the police. An. effective method of dealing with a section of the extremists has been devised by Mr Bavin, who has decided that those who take an active part in promoting riots or obstructing the police shall not get food relief orders in future. This move has exasperated the miners, and large numbers of them are still drilling and preparing for a desperate struggle. In Sydney there is a vigorous popular demand for the swearing-in of large bodies of special constables to cope with the emergency; and Mr Bavin has reiterated the decision which his Cabinet reached some time ago that “at all costs life and property will be protected” and that the Government “will not be deflected in the slightest degree from its purpose by .any actual or threatened violence.” At the present moment Australia seems closer to the “perilous verge” of civil war than ever it has been since the days of the Eureka Stockade. , A Royal Alliance. The marriage of the Crown Prince of Italy to the daughter of King Albert of Belgium has been celebrated in Rome with almost mediaeval splendour, and the two countries are now virtually united in a close political alliance. One of the most interesting of the guests was King Boris, of Bulgaria, who is still one of the most mysterious of European royalties. Twelve months ago it was rumoured that he had proposed for the hand of the Princess Giovanna, third daughter of the King of Italy. But Boris belongs to th® Greek Catholic Church, and according to the Bulgarian Constitution the Heir-Apparent must be brought up in the Orthodox faith. Princess Giovanna is, of course, a Roman Catholic, and when the marriage was first suggested the Pope threatened to excommunicate her if she married Boris. The Bulgarian King then offered to bind himself to promote the union of the Greek .and Roman Catholic Churches in his own country, and the Pope seemed ready to withdraw his opposition. Then came the settlement of the Roman Question, and now that friendly vfelations are established between the Vatican and the King, or rather Mussolini, the way is open for some amicable compromise. The Pope, it seems, agreed to the marriage if Giovanna remained a Roman Catholic. But Boris still insisted that the eldest son must be brought up in the Orthodox Church. Then Mussolini proposed that any other children should be brought up as Roman Catholics. The Pope agreed, but Boris declined, and so matters stood till quite recently. Now, if report speaks truly, all difficulties have’ been surmounted, and Italy is to be’ united to Bulgaria in an alliance that will at last realise Mussolini’s ambition to secure a plausible pretext for interfering in Balkan affairs. Getting Things Done. Not long since Mussolini decided that tramcare had no rightful place within the sacred precincts of Imperial Rome. He therefore decreed that they should be banished, and the work of demolitiori and transformation was carried out in a single day. There are only buses running inside Rome now, and these link up with a circular tramway system that runs completely round and through the suburbs. The noteworthy point about this internal reconstruction of the City of the Seven Hills is that it was begun and finished within twenty-four hours, though rain was falling heavily at the time. I do not agree with Mussolini’s conception of government, but one must admit that, when you come °to “getting things done” in a hurry, there is something in a Dictatorship.