QUAINT REPUBLICS

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8178, 3 May 1919, Page 2 (Supplement)

QUAINT REPUBLICS

PRESIDENT OYER FIFTY-FIYE. The smallest Republic in the world is that of Tavolara, an island seven and a half miles from Sardinia, about a mile in length, and possessing a population, of fifty-five. Up to 1881 Paul 1. reigned peaceably over his tiny kingdom, hut at his death the islanders proclaimed' a Republic. The president is elected for ten years, and women exercise the franchise.

Yiiina, is the biggest Republic, with a population exceeding 400,000,000, and territory comprising an area of 4,277,000 square miles. The only other Republic that can compare with it in extpit and population) fte Ah# Unjfbed States which has an area of 3,571,400 miles and a population of about 100,000,000.

One c(f the Smallest States in the world is situated about 150 miles from Andorra, in the Basses Pyrenees. It is called St. Const, and is hardly a square mile in area. The inhabitants number less than 150 souls; and they rule themselves, because the country is so difficult of access that no one will take the trouble to alter its constitution. St. Const lies on a rocky mountain top which is so steep that when anybody dies it is quite impossible to have an ordinary funeral. A coffin could not be carried down the mountain side, and consequently the inhabitants have cut a groove into the face of the rock; and the coffin is made fast to a rope and allowed' to slide down to the cemetery in Ossan Valley below , where all baptisms and marriages are perpormed. The President of St. Const is also tax collector, assessor and judge. Another quaint Republic is that of Inman, south of the mountains of Bogalinadsa. Its inhabitants are all hunters; it has its own laws but no police, and. like Monaco, its chief delight is gambling, but with this difference, that the gambling is restricted to one month in the year. The country has one pleasant custom —if offers free hospitality to visitors for three days, who may demand the best room in any house. 'San Marino, the country with the longest National Anthem, is ruled by a Grand Council elected for life. In one respect this ancient Republic is ahead of most nations, for it provides every inhabitant with free medical attendance Another curious feature of San Marino is its police force, which numbers seven all told. They are invariably foreigners, none of the natives l>eing willing to undertake police duties.