The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

WATCH FRANCE: France has piton been called “the key nation o£ Europe." Now, as never before, this designation is apt. For the eyes of all European governments are watch- ing the shifts and changes in the French Cabinets these days, and for- eign policies of many countries are modified accordingly. An article in “Current History” points out that, since the National (Chamberlain) Government of Great Britain is a Government of the Right or Conservative elements, it is greatly to its interest to have a government of the Right in France, too. Hence the break-up of the French Popular Front, coming simultaneously with the resignation of Leon Blum, Leftist Premier, last week, was cheered mightily in London. In Berlin, too, the fall of the Blum Cabinet was hailed as the opening of a new era, with. French policy more favorably disposed toward Germany. A likelihood of the early drawing away from the Franco-Soviet pact by the new French Government was also cause for rejoicing there, strengthen- ing Hitler's hand to make faster work of Czechoslovakia (or Alsace-Lorraine or Danzig or Lithuania). At home in France the nation was apparently not so pleased. Leon Jouhaux, French labor leader, claim- ing followers numbering six million, was furious at the forced break-up of the Popular Front, threatened a gen- eral strike of all Industry. Socialists and Communists alike, who together form the largest bloc in the Chamber, cried “Down with the Daladier Gov- ernment!" The former would not lend the government their support when invited to do so; the latter were ex- cluded as being too extreme for a Centre or Right government. For a moment, then, France was close to revolution which was kept from coming to a head by the realiza- tion that “another 1789” in France would precipitate a general European war. Why? Because civil war in France would create a situation there directly comparable to the situation in Spain; the armies of Hitler and Mussolini would undoubtedly plunge into the conflict and there you would have it. The new government is representa- tive of only a small section of the French people, with pressure being brought to bear on it from both the Right and the Left. The crisis is still on; France will be worth watching for the next few weeks and every new development will be significant. CONSERVATIVE LEADER: Every day in every way the list of prospec- tive candidates for leadership of Can- ada’s Conservative Party is growing bigger and bigger. Sometimes rumor augments it, later to be denied. At present five candidates are prominent- ly mentioned: Arthur Purvis, former Chairman of the National Employment Commission; Hon. Dr. R. J. Manion, former Minister of Railways and Can- als; Hon. J. Earl Lawson, once Min- ister without portfolio in the Bennett Cabinet; Denton .Massey, Toronto M, P,, and Sydney Smith, President of the University of Manitoba. WHAT HITLER MAY PROPOSE: The foreign affairs commentator who writes under the pen-name of Augur reported last week in his private ser- vice to London subscribers that Ger- many would propose a sensational deal for extensive territorial acquis- ition when Chancellor Hitler visits Premier Mussolini in Rome next month. Augur said Germany would ask a free hand in gradual absorption of the Danubian region as far as the Black Sea, In exchange, it would offer to help Italy eventually to take from France the rich strip of French terri- tory along the Italian border includ- ing the Savoie region and the Medi- terranean port of Nice; the Mediter- ranean island of Corsica, and the North African possession of Tunisia. PRESIDENTIAL SETBACK: Presi- dent Roosevelt’s administration stag- gered under an overwhelming blow dealt in the United States House of Representatives last week when a number of Democrat members ‘‘cross- ed the floor of the House” and voted with the other side against the Presi- dent’s Government Re-organization Bill. The issue was one of increasing Presidential powers to permit long overdue reforms to be made in the executive branch of the government, Observers say the defeat in such a manner of the Re-organization Bill means a big drop in the prestige of the President, that it will mark the beginning of a nation-wide struggle between F.D.R. and his “big business” critics. READY IN AUGUST: The long- heralded transatlantic air service on a twenty-four-hour schedule between New York and Foynes, Ireland, will start this summer, perhaps by tile first of August, it was officially announced from New York last week. (Passen- gers and mail will be carriedâ€"com- mercial flights must wait till later.) According to the schedule, two planes will take off -simultaneously from op- posite sides of the Atlantic, an Im- perial Airways “pick-a-back" plane from Ireland, a Pan-American Airways Boeing seaplane from Port Washing- ton, N.Y. f~News In Brief j Japs In Bad Position SHANGHAI.â€"Foreign military ob- servers believe the Japanese are in an extremely difficult military position in South Shantung Province, where persistent Chinese counter-attacks have put the Japanese on the de- fensive along the 150-Mile battlefront Will Not Return Properties MEXICO CITY. â€" It was learned authoritatively this week that Mexico has delivered a note to the British Legation rejecting Great Britain’s re- quest that expropriated oil properties be returned to their former owners, The note was in reply to a British protest sent to Mexico last week charging the Mexican Government was moved by “political desire” in taking the properties. New Type Cruiser Rumored WASHINGTON.â€"The Navy Depart- ment has been informed that Japan is constructing a powerful “hit and run” fleet that may revolutionize nav- al tactics. , Bâ€"D Art Of Eating Some Valuable Pointersâ€"‘â- Moder- ation, Pleasant Atmosphere,. Rijst Help Health We are very often told how to eat and how important it is that our meals consist of a variety of foods. The proper selection of foods is the first item to be considered, and the next is to eat food in the right way after it has been selected. The fol- lowing suggestions are made to cov- er the important subjec of How to Eat: Moderation should be practised at all times. It is harmful to over-eut, even of the proper foods. Excess does harm; it throws an unreasonable strain on the body and so tends to wear it out early. Premature old age is the common result of neglect of the watchword “moderation.” Meals should be eaten in a quiet, restful manner. Food is not readily digested when the body is tired, or when the individual is worried or an- gry. A rest before meals is recom- mended to overcome body fatigue. Arguments or scoldings should never be carried on at meal-time. Active exercise should not be taken Imme- diately after eating. Exercise is needed by the body, but so is rest, and one of the times when compara- tive rest is required by the body is after eating. Thoroughly Chewed This same idea of rest is the rea- son why meals should be eaten regu- larly. The number of meals and the hour for meals is a matter of in- dividual preference and custom. When meals are eaten irregularly, or when food is taken between meals, the digestive system is not given the periods of rest which it requires if it is to do its work properly. Eating between meals should be avoided. The person' who requires extra nour- ishment should take it regularly. Nature has provided means for the mastication of food. Food should be eaten slowly and it should be thor- oughly chewed before ft is swallow- ed, It should not be washed down with a drink before it is masticated. There is no objection to the use of beverages in moderation with meals, but they should be taken when the mouth is empty. Moderation at all times!â€"that is How to Eat! 10,000 Murphys Attend Picnic Justice Charles S. Murphy of Wor- cester, Mass., announced this week this his annual “Murphy Day” will he held June 19 and said he expects 10,000 Murphys to show up. And with that he started conning directories. Every New England Murphy whom he finds therein will get an invitation. Five thousand came out last summer. Despite a screen of censorship, this Government has been advised that the island empire is building a type of super cruiser that has no match from the standpoints of speed, mobil- ity and striking power. Ice Jam Breaks Up NIAGARA FALLS, Ont.-â€"Break-up of the Niagara River Gorge ice jam last week took a big toll of wild life, observers reported. William (Red) Hill, riverman, said hundreds of wild ducks were crushed as they sat on the ice field. He said thousands of perch, apparently baf- fled by the heavy tog created near the top of Niagara Falls, were carried over the cataract before they were aware of its nearness. CANADA Morning’s the Titre A watch that is wound in the morning will last longer, The tight- ly wound main spring will stand the shocks and jars of day better than a loose main spring. For the same reason people are fresher and do bet- ter work in the mornings. By night they get run down.â€"Windsor Star. - oâ€"-- Better Be Careful Dr. W. T. Crombie, Superiptënd- ent of Queen Alexandra Sanitarium, London, Ontario, and noted author- ity on tuberculosis, has an unpleas- ant thought for us. If proper tests were taken, he asserts half of the population of Canada would be shown to have tuberculosis. Not that they should be in sanitaria, decidedly not, but they should protect themselves against care and overwork lest they find ‘ themselves there. â€" Canadian Magazine. â€"oâ€"- A Big Attraction Every effort must be put forth by the authorities at Queen’s Park to conserve and increase the game fish and wild life in general in this pro- vince. That the great Northern On- tario playgrounds and fisherman’s paradise are the main attractions to American tourists who left something like $295,000,000 in this province in 1937, is evidenced in the constant stream of inquiries flowing into the Canadian Travel Bureau each spring. â€"Guelph Mercury. Canada’s War Debt As shown by the Canada Year Book the war and demobilization ex- penditures of Canada up to and in- cluding the fiscal year 1920 totalled $1,670,406,236. In the next three years, 1921-23, there were further expenditures of $23,000,000 odd and since then there'have been additional small items chargeable to war. These figures apply only to actual war ex- penditures. To get the cost of the war there would have to be added to them the large, continuing, outlays for pensions. From 1914 to 1920 the gross debt of Canada rose, steeply from $544,391,369 to $3,041,529,578, This enormous increase was chiefly but not entirely due to the war ex- penditures.â€"Kingston Whig-Stand- ard. Those Royal Commissions The Ottawa Journal laments the now familiar orgy of royal commis- sions which has marked our Canadi- an political scene in the past few years .... But it is a splendid way for a gov- ernment to skate around responsibil- ity; it is assumed that by appointing a commission they have “done some- thing about it.” The list of commissions in the past few years would be an impressive one. Whether the price : of clearing the air in some cases was worth the cost is an open question. Yet one might well wonder where the respon- sibility of politicians in action begins and where it endsâ€"or if the royal commission is going to become a con- venient vehicle for holding electoral support.â€"Hamilton Spectator. Chinese pigtails are being used in making textiles in Bradford, Eng- land. T H E EM PIRE Inconsistency The whole of Hungary’s agricultu- ral labor market has been disorganiz- ed. Why? Because Germany has engaged 20,000 Hungarian agricul- tural laborers for work in East Prus- sia, Yet Germany still keeps up her de- mands for colonies, saying that she needs to find an outlet for her sur- plus population. â€" London Sunday Express. “It Has Ho Parallel” Those in Canada who cherish the freedom of speech, writing, and pub- lic meeting guaranteed by the Con- stitution are much concerned at the “Padlock” Act recently passed in Quebec. The measure has no paral- lel in a British Dominion. One clause declares it to be illegal for any house to be used to “propogate communism of bolshevism by any means whatsoever,” though it is to be noted that in no part of the Act is any attempt made to define these per- nicious doctrines . . . Among elemen- tary principles of British constitu- tional government are freedom of speech, of the press, and of public meeting, subject to the limitations of the criminal law; the right of a man to a fair trial in open court if charged with an offence; and the freedom of the home from arbitrary search, Ail of these, are violated by the new Act, and the anxiety of lib- eral opinion throughout Canada at the reactionary nature of the measure can well be understood.â€"Manchester Guardian. The BOOK SHELF ÃŽ By ELIZABETH EEDY MURDER ON SAFARI, by Elspeth Huxley. À new type of murder story came into being last autumn with the pub- lication of Elspeth Huxley’s “Murder at Government House,” which was at once a satire on high official life in Chania colony and a cracking good thriller. All-round fun. Now Mrs. Huxley has done it again with “Mur- der on Safari.” Vachell, the Canadian sleuth who tracked down the killer of Chania’s Governor, is back, too, with soma even stranger problems to solve. Can a herd of buffaloes prove the alibi of Rutley, Lady Baradale’s conceited chauffeur? Why did the elephania take alarm and move -mysteriously away? Who put walnuts on the im- provised coffin containing the reniaina of Lady Baradale? Then there's the thrilling climax, in which Vachell sets a trap for the murderer witli himself as,, bait. The charaterization, the witty style and the swift-moving action o:f the plot grip the reader’s interesi from the first page to the last, and vividly re-create, from the writer’s first-hand knowledge, the sights, sounds and smells of the African wilds in which the scene is set Murder on Safari, by Elspeth Hux- ley, pub. by Reginald Saunders, To- ronto. $2, THE WONDERLAND OF OZ In a short time General Blug, the commander of the Gnome King's armies, appeared, This gnome was known far and wide as a terrible fighter and a cruel, desperate com- mander. He had fifty thousand gnome soldiers, all well drilled, who feared nothing but their stern commander, and yet General Blug was a trifle un- easy when he arrived and saw how Angry the Gnome King was. “Ha! So you’re here!" cried the King. “So I am,” said the General. “March your army at once to the Land of Oz, capture and destroy the Emer- ald City, and bring back to me my magic belt!” roared the King. “You’re crazy,” remarked the General, calmly “What's that? What’s that?” cried the Gnome King, dancing around on his pointed toes, he was so enraged. “You dont know what you’re talk- ing about,” continued the General, seating himself upon a large cut diamond. “I advise you to stand in a corner and count sixty before you speak again.” The King looked around for something to throw at Gen- eral Blug, but as nothing was handy, he began to consider that , erhaps the man was right. So he pulled his whiskers aad glared wickedly at Blug, Reilly & Loe Co.j “In the first place,” said the Gen- eral, “we can’t march across the dead- ly desert to the Land of Oz, and if we could, the ruler of that country, Prin- cess Ozma, has certain magic powers that would render my army helpless. Had you not lost your magic belt you might have some chance of defeating her, but the belt is gone." “I want it,” screamed the King. ‘ 1 must have it! You've got to get it.”