1940-06-10 — Page 16

Monday,

HONGKONG TELEGRAPH

∙June 10, 1940.

A.

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A

An American asked how we're governed

N American has just been

our British Constitution. The visit of the King and Queen to the United States had aroused his interest in English, democra- ------ tic government.

"How does it work?" he asked. "How did it all begin?" I took out pencil and paper and set down the facts for him. This is what I wrote:

•

by

MONTAGUE SMITH

The world discusses the British form of Government, admires it, deplores it, criticises it: but what IS the British structure of Government?

There are in England and Wales the boroughs, and in return sold them (ord in slightly altered form in Scotland)

pnelsh meetings, parish special rights and privileges, em- councils, rural district councils, trban bodied in charters of those days. district councils, borough councils, Councillors Unpaid

Tol. 27778-9

sounty boroughs councils, county

Hongkong Telegraph.

Monday, June 10, 1940. Wyndham St., Hongkong Telephone: 26015-

THE proix "Special to the Telegraph is ured by the Hongkong Telegraph to Indicate news which is suletly copyright under the provisions of the Telecommuni- catlont Ordinance, 1836. Buch news bears the indication “UP”! is received ta Hongkong on the date of publication by the United Press Associations, who 20- serve All Zights and forbid republication.

arrangement.

Mussolini

councils, in an ascending order of

parish Importance, all of them consisting of UT of the borough and

council system our modern members elected by the citizens, which between them constitute what methods of local government grew, we call the system of Local Govern- but they are in fact of little less than

ment.

a century's achievement.

There are now in

The consent of a majority in both Houses is necessary for the passage

of a Bill into law in most cases, but the Commons alone have the right of saying what laxatlon shall be im- posed.

31,000,000 Electors

vote for member of Parlin- THE suffrage, that is, the right to ment. is now pinost universal among: adult citizens of both sexes.

Above them all, determining the

England and powers which they may exercise, and Wales 581 urban district councils and ximately 31,000,000 of us electore

In Great Britain there are appro- having in itself much larger duties

councils, whose 14,500,000 men and 10,500,000 women concerned with foreign affairs, de- 478 rural district fence, taxation, and the general well respective spheres of authority are who have the opportunity at least is the Govern defined in their names, 328 non- once every five years for that is

being of the people the House of county borough councils, 83 county-the-maximum life of any Parliament)

ment, consisting Commons

(supposed to be the arbiter of the

nation's borough councils, and 61 county to put a cross on a ballet paper and thereby choose which of two or more supreme

opposing candidates shall represent destiny), an elected body; the House councils,

assembly of 111 of

peers. and

most us. whose right of governance

The county council is the

d to be based

on inherited powerful body in local government,

borough

I can claim about one-fifty-thou- capabilities, the Cabinet of Minis- tag certain rights of admin sandth share in one M.P., and, small either wholly or in part without previous ters, appointed by the Prime Ministration in such matters as education as it is, I cherish it more than come ter, and the Prime Minister himself, and roads to the rural, urban, and of my fellow-citizens, for the truth councils. The county bor is that seldom more than 60 per cent. appointed by the King as the leader augh councils, now limited to towns of the electors take the trouble to

which can of the political party command a majority in the House with a population of more than 75,- vote for a representative when they

000, are alone independent of the have the chance to do do, of Commons.

county council authority.

This ap thy is due in the main to Women can sit in authority on oll

All the members of all these local a belief that what we call our party these governing bodies, both local authorities are elected by the rate system determines legislation and national, with the exception of payers, and all of them are unpaid, makes a single vote ineffective. This the House of Lords. There is no with the exception of the local mas party system, which had its origin in thing in the British Constitution who are elected by their borough the bitter parliamentary conflicts of which could prevent a woman from yours for period-of-one year, Stuurt times, when Houndheads and becoming Prime Minister. But it is and who receive a small allowance Cavallers were fighting for the head It is indeed, surprising that the not yet supposed that women have for expenses, part of which may be of Charles I. has developed into a Italian Dictator, who has a very real enough acquired or inherited ablity, spent on entertaining distinguished perpetual clash between the ins and feeling for the theatre. should have to be members of the House of visitors. chosen such an unimpressive role Lords. since the war began.

There

IF Mussolini were strutting on his own little stare we might find the crass opportun of Italian foreign policy mildly amusing.

But he is one of the players ut the moment, a minor fono) in the great drama now being |

enocted in Europe.

The earliest forms of expression Two In Five Of Us Voto

and

the outs, the Government and the Opposition, the Conservatives and the Socialists, in which it becomes al-

undignified is something about a warrior sitting on the fence of self-government (or democracy) ALTHOUGH these local authorities, most, but not quite, impossible for in this country were those of the A between them collect rates from any unattached individual, an inde- above the heat and smoke of battle, and, at the same time, thundering out parish and borough councils. The us amounting to nearly £200,000,000 pendent, to become an MP,

precise origin of both of them is lost a year, and spend some £500,000,000 challenges like a medieval knight.

It takes a lot of money to Aght on hale spectacle has become tedious, in the mists of time, but both have a year-the balance being made up election in most constituencies, and Zorms for at by grants from the Government and few afford to risk the expense. The because all the world knows what existed in primitivo side of the fence Mussolini would like cast 1,200 years, and are undoubted the proceeds of municipal undertak--result has been the creation of party to fall on-if he could only be surely the derivation of days when ings-we do not, save when the rate funds, out of which financial assis- of dividends and sufficient glory at a abandoning a solitary existence, first demand notes reach us, take a pro- tance is given only to candidates pre- found the value of tribal strength found interest in their conduct of af- pared to submit to party orders on The truth is that Mussolini still and tribal rules.

how they will vote I elected. dreams of a great new Roman E-

The name "borough," for instance, Only about two in every five of us piro; and his appetite is stimulated by derived froin an

Nevertheless, it remains possible for Anglo-Saxon entled to vote take the trouble to any man.or woman to-day to become the militant fascists who want the word "burh," meaning a sheltered or do when our councillors are being an M.P., just as he or she, in the Rome-Berlin Axis to become active. fortified place, the camp or refuge of elected a fact which may or may lower circles of authority, may be-

Signor Ansaldo, the editor of "Il

"a tribe. Thus Canterbury, which no not convince you of our beilef in the come a local councillor, and every Telegrafo, put the matter plainly in doubt you will visit, is really, accord- workings of democracy.

minimum risk.

fairs.

Brilon born could become

Prime a speech: "Entire peoples are staking ing to its derivation, the camp or all their forces and resources in the tribal refuge of the men of Kent. Now for the contributors to na- Minister. That must be accounted present war, because the vanquished

tional taxes. We must go back to one of the splendours of our demo- cannot delude themselves regarding So, in the days when Roman history to start that story.

cratic system. will be expropriated | civilisation had faded to the shadow

their fate..

and impoverished."

aim

to

THERE remains to tell of the great superstructure of authority which rises above all our system of elective government-the Cabinet. This con-

of a name, when the Danes and, later, There was the semblance of Par-, Man With The Umbrella As it is not any part of our war the Normans were invading our liament in Anglo-Saxon times, à great to expropriate or impoverish our shores, you may picture our fore- Council of State, summoned by the enemy, we can only conclude that this fathers (and yours) gathering them- king, and called the Witenagemot, or Is the pretty ambition of the Dicta-selves into walled towns, or boroughs, meeting of wise men. fors; and that, if there is any chance levying taxes, or "scots" (the word

The Norman Conquest, with its im- sists of Ministers who are heads of of a Nazi victory, Mussolini wants means tax," as you see in the phrase position of conquering barons, de- the great departments of State, each

"ecot-free"), and ruled by a partly

to be in at the kill,

But he is not quite sure about elected "moot," later to be trans- layed the growth of popular liberties, of whom is personally appointed by

until later kings the Prime Minister. formed into the borough-council of and it was not

Wa necessary

action of some kind.

Observers in Rome say that events are forcing Mussolini to make chotee. D

a

modern times.

T

realised that

to obtain the consent of their sub- The Prime Minister is the lender of There's the rub.

Hence all

all the Italian shadow-

jects for the payment of money which the party in power, elected as such sparring, tub-thumping, bugle-blow-Major And Elder-Mon

they urgently needed that the old by his fellow M.P.s. After a general ing, and war talk-but only talk.

Talk will soon have to give place to the head of the moot was the system of representative national as election or other cause, such a a defeat of the Government on a major freeve, formerly the chief local sembly was revived.

Issue in the House of Commons, which tax-collector, later to become the Magna Carta was the outcome of may change the balance of power, mayor, the "major" or senior official, this necessity, King John signed it it is the privilege of the King to sum- assisted by the older and more solid-at pleasant island in the Thames, man the leader of the dominant party

'who have citizens, the elder-men, So are the Alles-in a quiet but now been transformed into the alder near Windsor, in 1215, and it esta- and ask him to form a Government. determined way,

blished a principle which does little

If the party leader accepts, he the British men, majestle in robes and ripe in to console us now that our income days ago Minister for Economie Warfare (Mr. years, who will, if you are suficiently tax is ös. Od. in Enamely, that there chooses his Ministers, who derive their Cross) said: "We have no quarrel datinguished, be at the head of the shall be no taxation without repre- authority from him alone. I, sub

sequently, he disagrees with them or with Italy and have every wish. to deputation of the borough council sentation,

they with him, he can dismiss them. be friends. But if she wishes to be which meets you on arrival in their

From that time the evolution of Usually he "accepts their resigno- treated as a neutral she must behave own.

Parliament proceeded briskly.

tion," as one."

A few

not

The parish council, though of simi- We can tolerate at a pinch—lar antiquity, had a different growth. The first Parliament regarded na So, at the head of all our system Mussolini's passion for histrionics, but It was a system designed more for such by our historians was summoned of governmetot toeat and we can't permit the ambiguous term the administration of scattered rural in 1265 by the rebel Simon de Mont- tional, the product of the centuries of "non-belligerency" to mask Italy's areas, and, as far as history knows, fort, Earl of Leicester, after he had Parliament, the ultimately chosen of role as supplier to Germany.and a It had an ecclesiastical origin. Theo defeated King Henry ill. at Lewes, 31,000,000 electors, there appears In potential ally waiting the opportune dore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Can- and those he bade attend were the supreme power the single figure of a moment to Intervene.

abbots, earls, and barons, man with an umbrella. terbury

towards the close of the bishops, It will be better for everybody seventh century, is supposed to have two burgesses from every borough. when Mussolini realises if he doesn't been responsible for putting it into

We do not pay him much. £10,- now that Britain and

The knights and burgesses were.000 a year la the salary of our Prime France are catablished shape. Its primary duties elected by their fellows, and the bur- Minister, and even his Cabinet Minis- ip slightest bit alarmed by his

were the maintenance.of church pro- military and naval preparations.

His fire-eating-performances and perty and discipline and the relief of Hesses were supposed to be paid a ters get only £5,000 a year, but the fee of two shillings a day for allen- honour of his office le so great that, dance at the Parliaments now begin- oll aspire to it. the passionate rhetoric of the mill-poor and desillute parishioners. fant Italian publicista do not repre- In the years that have Intervened ning to meet regularly at Westmins

It might be gathered from my re-. sent the spirit of the Italian people, the parish councils have passed ter Their fellow citizens strongly

murks on the party system, which so largely ordains the course of bath who are friendly to us and distrust through many vicissitudes. To-day objected to the charge. the Germans.

In England and Wales there are at To-day we pay our members of taxation and legislation, that I, Smith, The Italians want to know where least 12,000 of them, but little powers Parilament 2000 a year, plus first- a citizen, have now no safeguard, of Mussolint stands just as much as the save those of debate reminin to them, class railway fares to and from their my liberiles in Parliament, Allies do.

though their officials-the rector, constituencies, whether they attend The Allies have been extremely church-wardens, sexton, and parish patient-the more when

10

one clerkare memorials of their ancient or not, and the ancient objection of My answer is this: That if my many eliizens has in no way cause la just il can' always. And ex- realises the vulnerability of Italy in authority.

diminished,

pression. the Mediterranean.

:

A thousand angry Gaydan will-not-While their prestige waned, but of in 1344 the formal division of our There is in fact no body of men, drive the Allied navies from the the borough councils grow, end, as Parliament "Into two Houses the no Individesi, whose grievance can- Mediterranean or compel the Allies successiva kings of England In Iong House of Lords, representatives of not find the full opportunity, of dis-

part years needed money for their hereditary interests, and the House cussion in an appropriate local ne Blur pasted out of the grim own enjoyment or their foreign wars, of Commons, or commoners, electod sembly or ultimately on the floor" of 'European' game nine months ago. They levied taxes on the burgesses of by the taxpayers, was achieved, the House of Commons ilselt..

to relax their contraband control.

Tanks Have Changed War

By Major-Gonoral J. F. C. FULLER (Formerly Chiof Staff Officer, Tank Corpa), PRO- PHET of the AIR - TANK WAR

"They hunt the doves from their

coles,

And chard the martin from kis

hote.

Loudly rocking above, pibbering

below,

They are the owla which host over

the city."

From a Babyloniar

Cuneiform Tablet, FIFTEEN years ago, when wriling on "Land, and Air Warfare," I ended by saying: "We shall see the Com- mander-in-Chief and his Staff replace his the boxer. Ha two Bats are mechanised army and his air faces." Sometimes the army will fix the enemy by holding him in front, whilst the air force will knock him out in rear: sometimes the air force will hold the ency in rear, and the army will knock him out in front. Thus, I think, will battles be won,"

This is what has happened, even more so than 1 over dreamt of; be- cause the would-be prophat is always year behind the future, and not, az ho is generally acclaimed to be, years in advance of his day.

It is not tanks alone which have won battles for our enemy, or it is aircraft alone; but, instead, the might of these two weapons in Intimate co- They operation. And the result? multiply each other's powers. For instance.

100 tanks +100 airplanes does not produce 200. unlis of aghting power, bul-10,000?

Yet surely we can do as well-as-pur enemy, if we will only coaao dearm. ing, thinking and speculating in terms the of the last war, we who

of THEAS Juggernautle originatori

tactica

old

Wers

Ita birthplace was Fricourt, on the Somme battlefield, where, in February 1918 the 1st Tank Brigade "Conclusively demonstrated that low- Dying airplanes could render the great-

tanks." est protective assistance

These words were written at that time. Nevertheless, nothing was dono until July when No. # Squadron, RAF equipped with 10 Armstrong- Whitworths and commanded by Major T. Leigh-Mallory, DS.O., was attached to the Tank Carps. Without its co- operation, Augurt B-The Black Day of the German army"-would have been no more than a "grey dawn.

Then, a yaar inter everthing ung

Kink dripped away down the economy.

IN the German army, long before

the days of Intler, things werg different. Not a book was rublin on tanks or aircraft which was not minutely examined by the General Staff, at that time in mutu. Then, in 1933, Hitler came into power, and a year later, in a long conversation with him, I discovered his Intense interest in mechanised warfare.

What he saw in detail I do not know; but I know what I saw: It was not Bolely the physical power of the com- bined tank-nic attack, but, above all, its overwhelming moral power. That was our secret in 1918, and that ha been the German secret during the r two weeks-yat they gave us a frep demonstration of it eight months ago In Polandi

·In such moral-physical contests the war plan is an idea and not string of words. The decisive point of altnék is predetermined; it is the rear of the enemy and not his front or one of his flank The grand tactics are simple-- namely, to exploit weakness and suc- cess. The minor tactice a series of electric blows which, though they are apt to lead to disorder in the advance, produce complete confusion in the ranks of the reuring enemy.

The method, as I wrote again, a not to work according to a fixed plan; but instead to exploit avery oppor- unity. The mechanised army of the future musi strike with the utmost speed, the utmost secrecy and the utmost strength; for speed, secrecy and strength are the surest foundations of tha kock-out blow."

•

NOW for a little detail Except for scouting machines, every tank is an anti-tank, and every bomber-

ELEDY flying cannon. There are weapons and many types of machining on land and in the sir. The para“ chutist is no more than a human bomb. and the mator-gyellst—a human bullet. Each weapon has its part to play-a definite part, and when all are or- ganised and their wielders trained to co-operate, togather they play like one vast orchestra a rhythmic cacophony OF WAY.

As the scouting tanks move forward they are followed by groups of motor- cyclists, and as the troop-carriers, packed with parachutists, zoom over» head they are protected by a cloud of nighters. Under cover of this advanced guard comes the main body of the atm tack-medium and heavy tanks on the ground, bombers and thair escorts in the air, all followed by motorised Inn, fantry, supply columns, etc.

And In between these two mechanis- ed forces is a second formation of airw „eraft, which links theiz_ODSTALIGNE into one. It consists of three groups of machinen!

(1) Contact-paitols to keep tank battalion and company headquartern Informed of the progress of. ihale -machines and of the enemy's movi❤

ments and diepeditions.

(*) Attack patrols to locate the enemy's anil-tank defences, KELLEFT, etc., and not only attack them, but also signal their positions by meANE of smoke bombs. For this duty mape are marked showing all likely nul- tank localities.

- (3) An escort of fighters to protec these law altitude, operations.

Buch, in Belaf, fs" "the general' or- ganisation of the tank-air attack, which har so completely changed the form of warfare that, when we talk of antients and bulges, we must not Port-1018- that is, walled-in areas with them to be what they were in

defensive flanka;, but instead sa ney» ing bastions, with, innumerable mity- porte-offensive Banka's trues which sailles, are unceraingly imuing forth over the ground and through the air.

Finally, remarkablo, as 16 must seem when we look back on the part epoche of war, this new and deadly mathod gt syngjesi Forang to life qikrecembeE 17, 1903, When haar Kill* Dev}" Milk, Kitty Hawk, in North Carolina, Orville Wright in a power-driven airplane now for is seconde.