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¥ Wil ETTORE Commentary on the Highlights of the Week's News . . . Wows Gta By Elizabeth Eedy SPRING HATS--'"Pancake crowns, bumper brims, bonnets with chin straps will lead in this year's parade of spring hats," the fashion papers tell us. And already we see on the streets of Ontario's small towns, large iowns, our style-conscious wo- menfolk strutting about with the latest millinery confections atop their heads. The impartial (?) observer cannot help but wish, however, that more women had chosen styles to suit them, had only realized that those chin-strap bonnets are meant to be worn by coy, sweet young things . .. As it is, there are altogether too many worldly-looking women peering out from under unsophisticated brims, who make us think too readily of Little Red Riding Hood's Grand- mother . eis (ios BIG WAME ROMANCE--Last year it was the Duke and Duchess of Windsor who had the world's tongues wagging--the love story of a century, so it seemed. This spring it is Greta Garbo and Leopold Stokowski, two of the biggest names in the news, who are providing us with first-class vicarious romance. © As in the case of the other two lovers, however, their fame and name would appear to stand in the way of uninterrupted happiness, since the hounds - of publicity are forever on their trail. i (Yrs "CANADA SHIRKS"--WTriting in the New York Commentator, an Ameri- can political observer undertakes to criticise the foreign policy of Can- ada, who, with the other British Do- minions, he claims, is not doing her duty. This country, he says, expects in the event of war to be defended by the British Navy but is doing no- thing in the meantime to strengthen that navy. "In Britain," our critic points out, "every person on the average is pay- ing $45 a year for the defence of the Empire. In the Dominions, each white person pays less than a tenth of that sum. Why, the United States is spending more hard cash for the defence of the English-speak- ing world including Canada, than all the Dominions, ten times over." Hard words, those. But cold, bit- "ter facts nevertheless. From our own point of view, the situation is rather bad, since if we continue to depend on Great Britain for the protection of our shores, we dare not speak for ourselves nor take independent action in world affairs. In spite of the Statute of Westmin- ster (1931), then, we keep on hang- ing to Britain's apron strings, and allow London to make our major de- cisions for us. SHANSI FALLS--With the virtual taking over last week of China's Shansi province by the Japanese, the Rising Sun armies are in position for a westward drive across the Yellow River into the heart of the Chinese Red territory, the mysterious orth Shensi area, the country with a "question-mark." (Few white people have succeed- ed in penetrating as far as the Com- munist strongholds there. Edgar Snow 'in his "Red Star Over China" tells the story of a sojourn in this stamping ground of the Chinese Red forces presents photographs of peo- ple and places never before caught by the camera; describes a visit to the capital of the "mobile Chinese Soviet" in the north central portion of the area.) The outcome of a campaign in this territory is unpredictable, since Rus- sia at any time might come to the help of the Chinese Communists. Nevertheless Japan now proposes to go ahead and make good her oft-re- peated declaration that the real ob- ject of the present hostilities is to wipe out Red influences in North China. ---- THE WORST DRIVERS--Addres- sing delegates to the Ontario Motor League's Annual Conference, George A. Hodgson, chief examiner of driv- ers of Ontario, declared last week that at least 80 percent. of the car accidents occurring in this province were caused by drivers whose experi- ence amounted to five years or more. In other words, it is the experienced drivers who ought to know better who pile up the worst records. "Furthermore", he said, "the col- our-blind driver is safer than the man who is not colour blind. He can tell you immediately that the top light is red and the bottom green. Our dif- ferences are with those who have all their faculties." Apparently, then, the more a man is aware of his deficiencies, the more alert and careful he will be. ee pm TEETER-TOTTER -- An Associated Press despatch reads: "Poland step- ped into the diplomatic forefront this week as a possible balance between Great Britain and France on one side and Germany and Italy on the other, in proposed European agreements." 'Behind this news lies a multitude of interrelated facts, chief of which are: following his conversations with Prime Minister Chamberlain of Great Britain, which he hopes to conclude successfully, Premier Mussolini of Italy is expected to propose an alli- ance of four great powers who will run Europe's affairs; France would be unenthusiastic about such a plan unless Poland, her ally, were invited to participate in the talks, Index to Predict Length of Life Biologist Able to Tell If Men Likely to Reach Old Age Discovery of a biological index that predicts the length of a person's life in average figures after he is adult was reported last week by Dr. Ray- mond ° Pearl, famous biologist of Johns Hopkins University. He talked to the New York Aca- demy of Medicine on "The Search of Longevity." He made the first public announcement of the 'index" for foretelling length of life. The indices are bio:vgical measure- ments, ranging from pulse rate to body shape. They show in effect who shall survive the attacks of disease sufficiently to expect a ripe old age. In the heart and blood vesse' class, two groups of white men, 198 in each, were compared. They were first seen at ages ranging from 20 to 60, an average of 40. They were followed until all died. 26 Years Difference One group was long-lived; the oth- er short-lived. The long-lived men averaged 26 years apiece more than the others, These long-lived men had slower pulse rates. The differences, Dr. Pearl said, were quite small, around four beats a minute less. But this slight difference was statistically sig- nificant. The long-lived men had different blood pressure than the short-lived. Dr. Pearl said he did not wish at this time to reveal the blood pressure dif- ferences. The men who lived long averaged six pounds each less weight, notwithstanding that all the men in both classes were average build and weight. Long-Lived Small-Waisted The men who lived long had small- er chest girths at expiration of breath, and smaller waists at the na- vel level. It is nct true, Dr. Pearl reported, that the "absolute" length of human life has lengthened. Actually, he said, fewer persons alive at 70 to- day survive until 90 than 40 years ago. he lengthened life span of to- day is due to saving the lives of more babies and children, he said. The Great Lakes Fishing Industry Commercial Catch Totals 120,- 000,000 Pounds Annually American and Canadian commercial fishermen take some 120,000,000 1bs. of fish out of the Great Lakes annual- ly, valued at approximately $8,000, 000, says the Detroit Free Press. And yet, as the result of lack of proper regulation, this important in- dustry, conservation experts warn, faces extinction. The outlook for it is so serious that representatives of the United States and Canadian governments, as well as the governments of Ontario and of the . eight states bordering on the Great Lakes, met in Detroit in Febru- ary to agree upon a uniform protec- tion of small fish. Decline In Whitefish The decline of the whitefish catch from 3,500,000 to less than 500,000 pounds annually is only one measure of the fate "in store for the Great Lakes fisheries if something effective is not promptly done to curb the rav- ages of cut-throat competition among the fishermen, who seem to act on the assumption that a fish in the net is worth two in the water. The end of that sort of thing is bound- to 'be the extinction of the stock of commercial fish in the lakes--and, with "it, the destruction of the profit- able business of supplying tables with piscatorial 'delicacies fresh from local waters. * Hats OF! England is mot the only country with antiquated laws. An ardent film-goer in Akron, Ohio, has re- cently discovered that a 41-year-old law, never repealed, forbids women to wear large hats in theatres. He has now invoked the law, which has to be carried out by theatre man- agers, and can go to his favourite cinema with a guarantee that his view will not be obscured. As the result of spare-time study more than 500 miners have left the mines of South Wales to enter pro- fessions in the last three years. A---C Foresees Ocean Mail Flights During 1938 3 9 Canadian Minister of Transport Predicts Trans-Canada Airlines Ocean Service Will Be In Force Within a Year--21 Pilots Now Ready Trained. Ocean-to-ocean mail service will be in operation on the Trans-Canada Airlines within a year, the House of Commons was informed last week by Minister of Transport C. D. Howe. Two Trips Per Week He also made the announcement that it is "quite within the realm of possibility" that a regular air mail service across the Atlantic Ocean, consisting of two trips each way per week, will be in operation before the end of the present year. Earlier in the day, the minister had. secured first reading for a bill allowing Trans-Canada Airlines to purchase a certain allotment of stock in the company operating the ocean service, as provided for under terms of an agreement with Great Britain, the Irish Free State and Newfound- land. - The Trans-Canada now has 21 pi- lots. The minister boasted that they are equal to any in the world and are familiar with the British system of navigation, The service from Vancouver to Winnipeg is "pretty well completed," he said, and the jump from Montreal to the Maritimes will be pushed ahead as soon as the weather permits in the spring. Vancouver to Montreal The trans-Canada, Mr. Howe said, will have a thorough service from Vancouver to Montreal with only one feeder, from Lethbridge to Edmon- ton. It was the government's in- tention to leave ordinary feeder ser- vices to private enterprise. - Tenders for air mail services connecting the main cities of Saskatchewan, are be- ing called now. It was generally the government's intention; the minister said, to ex- tend aviation to all part of Canada when air mail warranted it. Photograph Speedy License Numbers Camera Has Been Invented That Will Snap Numbers on Fast Automobiles at Night A camera capable of photographing licences of speeding automobiles at night was brought forward last week by the Pennsylvania State police as a new weapon in the state's war on highway accidents. Commissioner Percy W. Foote said that the camera would be installed soon in many of the patrol's white "ghost cars" that took to the road some time ago to combat highway law violations. Pierces Brightest Rays Infra-red cameras are being devel- opend for police use by Capt. Flavel M. Williams, retired naval officer and fog camera expert, who was drafted by the Pennsylvania force to carry on his researches. " The photographic marvel, Foote said, is expected to pierce the bright- est headlight rays and clock the speed of the car at the same time. Foote said that he planned to place the equipment in three or four cars operated by each of the 18 police troops in Pennsylvania. Front or Back Plates The camera would be set up close to the windshield of the 'ghost" car, and could photograph through the glass of the windshield, getting the license plate of a car in front or of a vehicle coming in the opposite di- rection. Nearly 320,000 decorative trees are to be planted in County Durham in England. Paris Ratifies Trade Treaty | Canada to Gain -- Dominion Quotas Higher on Several Products OTTAWA. -- The Franco-Canadian trade treaty, ratified last week by the French Chamber of Deputies, is an extension of the 1933 and 1935 com- mercial agreements. Most important concessions to Canada are larger quo- tas for lead and zinc in pigs and bars. The additional quota in lead is ex- pected to amount to about $700,000 and ginc to about $200,000. The following other Canadian com- modities are given new or additional quotas: Cheese, tomato juice, mowing machines, electrical apparatus, elastic fabrics and manufactures of asbestos. New arrangements also were made respecting administration of the quota on canned salmon. Benefits of the French minimum tariff have also been extended to the following Canadian products: Sweet- ened condensed milk, artificial carbon- ate of magnesia, uranium exide, tel- lurium, incandescent mantles, calf brains, gas and alcohol stoves, lamp and gas burners and parts. l News In Brief Russo-Japanese Tension TOKIO--A vigorous Soviet protest this week registered renewed tension in Japan's troubled relations with the Soviet. Moscow protested against the continued detention of two Rus- sian steamships in northern Japan ports and of a Soviet airplane in northeastern Manchoukuo. The Jap- anese came back with charges that Soviet authorities were "illegally holding" 58 Japanese subjects in Russian Sakhalin and nine Japanese vessels. Want to Probe Cures TORONTO.--Legislative authority for a Government-appointed Commis- sion to investigate secret cancer cures was sought last week in the Ontario House by Hon. Harold J. Kirby, Min- ister of Health. Revelation of formula and details of treatment are required by the bill, according to the Minister. Sweeping powers to inquire into any type of "so-called cure" are provided. Successful Guerilla Tactics SHANGHAI.--Chinese reported over the week-end that guerilla bands had recaptured a dozen towns in con- quered territory north of the Yellow River. Japanese artillery meanwhile bombarded strategic cities on the south bank. Most of the reported Chinese suc- cesses were along the Honan-Hopeh border, forty to sixty miles behind the Japanese advance lines, which were held up by the broad river. The Chinese also said a Chinese cavalry detachment repulsed a Japa- nese drive against Lini, in Southeast- ern Shantung, killing 500 Japanese. Stock Exchange Setback Stock markets on this continent, last week took some hard knocks but after a few hours of slipping prices, they staged a practical comeback. The recovery in the face of the failure of Richard Whitney & Co., a prominent New York stock exchange firm, was regarded as an excellent demonstration of the strength under- lying the market. Held On 38 Charges TORONTO.--Thirty-eight charges of theft, robbery and shopbreaking were laid last week after hours of persistent questioning of four 'teen- VOICE = 3 of ! THE WORLD AT LARGE CANADA | | THE EMPIRE | the fe PRESS CANADA Extinct Species? The Y.M.C.A. in Toronto is con- ducting a course to cure blushing and there will be a little mild speculation: as to where they find folk nowadays that do blush.--Peterbcrough Exam- iner. Humanitarian Feelings We say "amen" to the indignation of Tavistock people, directed toward the unknown hit-and-run driver who killed a wire-hair terrier puppy in that village. The mean killer neither slowed down in an attempt to miss the wee dog, nor to make amends after running over it. Contrast this incident with one in Dubuque, Iowa, where 12 men worked for ten days to rescue a small terrier from a fox hole.--Stratford Beacon-Herald, Away From Strangulation Modern machinery has enabled fewer people to produce more on the farms. This has inevitably been re- flected on the villages. But there is a growing realization that urbaniza- tion can be carried too far. The huge city strangles itself. Every- where we see suburban developments as men try to escape from the high taxes and crowded streets of the city. Industry is said to be following the same pathway. Hydro and rapid transportation cancel many of the advantages once possessed by the city. It will be interesting to see what succeeding years contribute to the problem.--ILondon Free Press. No "Saturated" West . There is a limiting factor holding down Western--and, for that matter, Canadian--population growth. But that factor decidedly is not "satura- tion" or overloading of the physical resources. The soil of Western Canada is neither overcrowded nor overloaded, nor anywhere near that condition. A look at Russia, with its 165 million people, challenges not only comparison but serious study. Naturally, we do not want to des- cend to the Russian standard of liv- ing, but "standard of living" is it- self a shibboleth which might well be analyzed. Some of the ideas and habits by which we mould our lives in Canada might be revised with be- nefit to everybody in the Dominion --but the scientists who are most capable of attacking the problem have "no actual data" and are so' burdened with routine that they have no opportunity to give the long- view leadership which might inspire the people and start a new era of progress. aged boys caught by an unarmed po- lice chief after an eighty-mile-an- hour auto chase and a five-mile man- hunt through the bush near Whitby. To Open Empire Fair _LONDON.--The King and Queen will open the Empire exposition. at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, on May 3 and visit poor districts in Glasgow the following day, it was officially announced this week. Civil {viation To Go Ahea LONDON.--Great Britain ad to make a bolder bid for international air traffic. Concurrently with the upbuildi of the Royal Air Force, ng ment announced last week it will give Increased stimulus to eivil aviation, Measures are to be taken within the Air Ministry to strengthen the or- ganization dealing with civil aviation. U. S. S. Memphis Pays Visit to Singapore ing through Jchore Jtreits, the 1. 8. S. Memphis is shown . gapoie. ariving at Great Britain's new naval base at THE EMPIRE Australian Foreign Policy Australia's distinctive interests re- volve around two different centres; the Pacific and the British Common- wealth of Nations. Our geographical position and our economic welfare inevitably mean a regional preoccu- pation with the Pacific. In many re- spects we share parallel interests with the United States, and one of the recognized planks in our foreign policy must be the development of Australian-American friendship and co-operation. We desire to place our trade and other relations with Japan on a satisfactory footing. We recognize her economic difficulties, but, on the other hand, we cannot remain blind to the Japanese aggres- sion which has aroused even India to strengthen her defences, and any potential threat to our security re- minds us that we can only find safety in co-operation with Great Britain, just as our interests and loyalties are ineluctably bound up with the Empire.--Sydney Herald. Can Japan Last Out? In the last three years we have heard so much of the horrors of war in Abyssinia, Spain and China that many of us take it for granted our own country must sooner or later be involved in similar miseries." But we overlook one factor of transcendent importance--never betore in history has it been so obvious that war can- not pay, even when all the bombs and tanks and artillery are on one side, as they were in the Abysinian affair. Without foreign credits Italy can do teritorq I have Already, in this ar- policy. I have already, in this ar- ticle, called attention to the cost in men and money of the German and Italian war In Spain--a war waged by these non-Spaniards with that sinking feeling that any pickings at the end of it are more likely to go to the City of London than to Berlin or Rome, But the most impressive example is that of Japan. Her en- tire resources are now involved in a campaign which will almost inevit- ably ruin her , .. Tt seems almost unbelievable that any nation should manage to forfeit so much good will in so short a time. Who, after such examples, will dare to start a new war? --Vernon Bartlett in World Review (London). : Canadain Invents Insulating Silk Dry Steam Treatment Found to Increase Silk's Electrical Resistance Powers Silk insulation that exhibits 131% to 17 times more electrical resistance than ordinary silk is revealed in a pa- tent granted at Washington, D.C, to Alfred C. Goodings, of Toronto. The inventor has discovered that silk of such high insulating value can be obtained by treating the material with dry steam. Thus less silk would be needed to produce the same am- ount of insulation. The fine wires used in many electrical instruments are insulated with windings of silk thread. According to his process, the silk fiber is placed in a chamber previous- ly heated to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. The dry steam at a temperature of 220 degrees Fahrenheit is introduced. The treatment lasts for 20 minutes. After this, the silk is dried and ready for its use as an insvlating wrapping. German Autos Mit British Car Sales Are Making Inroads In PRritain And Dominions With Sub- sidy On Exports Although the German "People's Car" has not yet appeared, other types already in production are mak- ing such inroads in the British mar- ket as to cause anxiety among London and Oxford manufacturers. Whereas only twenty-three German automobiles were imported into Bri- tain in January, 1937, the number jumped to 1,067 last month. Moreover, it is said that, owing to the German subsidy, German trucks and heavy oil vehicles are being imported into South Africa, Ceylon and other British Do- minion markets at prices with which neither British nor American makers can compete. According to the Daily Telegraph, the prime purpose of the German sub- sidy arrangement is to obtain credits abroad for essential imports. Last year's automobile exports, it is believ- ed, actually paid for all the rubber for tires required on Germany's own au- tomobiles. Moscow proclaims that its new sub- way is the most beautiful in the world. :