THE CHINA MAIL, MAY 1, 1939
SWITZERLAND ON GUARD
Ready For Any Emergency: Reorganised Army
Fortified Mountain
Barrier
The Swiss will tell you proudly that their coun-
She Became He: Wants To Be She Again
After two years as a man following an operation for change try owed its neutrality in the world war to the fact of sex, Witold Smetek, formerly Mlle. Sofla Smetkowna, Polish that the Kaiser attended the Swiss Grand Army|javelin thrower, wants to become a woman again. manoeuvres in 1913, and was much impressed by what he saw.
To-day they are in an even better state of pre- paredness than they were in 1914. Their army, admirably trained and equipped, is capable of being expanded into something more than 400,000
men.
He (or she) is reported by Reuter to have declared: "The last two years have been a torture for me and I have decided to change back my sex."
Sofia was engaged to be married, and when the operation was carried out "her" flance left Warsaw to try to forget.
20 Prominent
Men Guarded
A special defence force, composed of men in- habiting frontier regions, is ready for immediate service. They keep their full equipment at home with them; and each man knows just where to re- port and what he is to do if trouble starts. Last police and the I.R.A. Goes on. year, when a special test was made, they were at their posts, almost to a man, within a few hours.
the
Trial of Strength between
be-
the have been cleverly "snapped" by the police cameraman without their Twenty prominent men in Eng-knowledge, and the collection is in land whose names were found in a this way being added to daily. list discovered recently at the home There is fuller co-operation In the event of an invasion it, tective bluffs or other features of of a known member of the illegal tween Scotland Yard and provincial Irish organisation, who has dis- C.I.D. in the matter of watching will be the task of this frontier the terrain offer ideal emplace-
appeared, are now being attended suspects and in endeavouring to force to retard the advance of an ments for deadly anti-tank guns.
night and day by special branch and anticipate outrage. enemy for at least twenty-four ALL PASSES FORTIFIED
Meantime it is known that I.R.A. hours, so that other units of the Thoughout might never suspect it, yard men.
Their homes and offices are also headquarters are continually being army can have time to mobilise.
mountain that rises majesti-
Their moved from place to place. At one cally before you probably shelters under constant surveillance.
in time they were in the East End of impregnable fortifications sunk protection is so full that even
the clubs which they frequent London. Then they were moved to deep in its flanks. Such, for in- But the fulfilment of this task stance, is
em- a town in the Midlands. They have the
St. special plain-clothes men are case at
been moved again. will not be left entirely to man- Maurice, which commands the up-ployed as servants. power. Some idea of what an in-per reaches of the Rhone Valley. They have been shown photo- vader may expect can be gleaned The St. Gothard, St. Bernard, and graphs of men and women of known from the preparations made last other alpine passes all are heavily 1.R.A. sympathies, and part of the September at the time of the fortified; and, within the last two routine work of Scotland Yard dur- Munich crisis. Every road or
ob- years, the defences along the Ger- ing recent weeks has been to bridge leading into the country was man frontier have been greatly tain photographs from every pos- heavily mined, and all preparations strengthened.
sible source of all on whom suspi- made to blow them
up at a moment's notice.
HARD TASK FOR INVADER
Tank traps have been installed on nearly all the Swiss highways If you motor through the country to-day you will notice in the road- way unobtrusive patches of con- crete studded with rows of minia-
ture "manhole-covers." In time of emergency these covers are remov ed and thick steel posts embedded in the layers of concrete beneath. No tank in existence could plough away through these posts.
The traps are invariably placed xt points in the road where no
tour is possible, and where pro-
Vigour Restored, Glands Made In 24 Hours
Young
It is no longer: nécassary to suffog from tosk of vigour and manhood, weak: memory and body, nervousness, impure blood, mickly skin, depression, and poor slaap, became an American Doctor has ats
"Qujokė: GRAY Way to end
is in plaasant, easy-
Fie übsolutely harm». sland operations.
getting @younger. Your eyes sparkle
cion rests.
streets
SNAPPED
The Swiss have only a small afr force; but they are plentifully sup- plied with anti-aircraft equipment, Copies of these photographs are and their anti-aircraft gans are being issued not only to the Metro-- said to excel those of almost every politan Police, but to the higher every other country in Europe.
police officials of provincial forces. Within the past two years the
Suspects walking about the has been completely
of London and elsewhere army organised. A few weeks ago Federal Council reduced the mini- mum age for service from twenty to eighteen years, and at the same time it provided for the recruiting eight and sixty for service in the of men between the ages of forty-
Landwehr.
re- the
the future with calm. If war comès-
MILITARY
SERVICE FRAUD
COMPULSORY SAVING IN JAPAN
Tokyo, To-day. During the past financial year, which ended on March 30, the Ministry of Finance campaigned for the people to save eight bil- lion yen to meet the huge cost of the fighting in China and for financing capital-issues for the expansion of production.
It now claims, that the goal was nearly achieved as savings totalled seven billion, two hundred million
A curious case, which has at yen.
Nevertheless, the absorption of
On the whole, Switzerland faces tracted widespread attention, bas Government bond-issues was not she is determined not to be caught been dealt with by the Amsterdam as satisfactory as had been hoped, napping; and the Swiss people are Court. in entire agreement with the Federal Council's recent declara-For: several years a diamond tion that Switzerland is prepared to worker in Amsterdam taught young defend the Inviolability of her terri- tory to the last drop of blood."
with the result that the note-issue increased by Y500,000,000, leading to higher commodity prices:
men to simulate deafness In This year, the Government is ask- order to get rejected for military ing the nation to save ten billion ́ service. If the trick succeeded his yen to meet bond-issues totalling fee was to be 300- guliders,
six billion yen and four billion yen By this means he succeeded in for Industrial expansion.
M. GAFENCU TO getting, many young men rolooted,
VISIT BELGRADE
PARIS, TO-DAY:
but resently the police
the fraud and before the Ami
one of his "pup The Court
and is bringing new youth and vigour to thousand. It work directly on the glands and nerves and puts new, rich blood and energy ing our volan,sing | THE RUMANIAN - FOREIGN three years' hour you can send faul yournals MINISTER, M. GAFENCU, WILL "pupil" yous cellly and full of youthrud STOP IN BELGRADE FOR A Twenty
"And this Cmasing, new gland and DAY ON HIS RETURN FROM now to igour restorer, called Dr. Nixon's Sourcis quaranteed. It has been provod | ROME TO BUCHAREST.
vigour and power, N
by thousands in America and is now
chemists here: under a satisfaction, or money
M. Gafencu will hold talks with Yugo-Slav statesmen on the situa- tion in South Eastern “ Europa, fol- lowing the slaure of Albania.
The
alks may well
Court
ITALIANS LEAVE FRANCE
Milan, To-day.
300 Italian families, with 100 members, returned to
day from France,
COMPULSORY SAVING
The Nichl Nichi Shimbun," how-
this... total es Government this year will llion; five hun-
arges
In-
steps sif it wishtos
declares plans.