War with the Newts by Karel Capek

Author:Karel Capek
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Catbird Press
Published: 1999-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

1 Cf. G. Kreuzmann, Geschichte der Molche; Hans Tietze, Der Molch des XX. Jahrhunderts; Kurt Wolff, Der Molch und das deutsche Volk; Sir Herbert Owen, The Salamanders and the British Empire; Giovanni Focaja, L’evoluzione degli anfibi durante il Fascismo; Leon Bonnet, Les Urodeles et la Societe des Nations; S. Madariaga, Las Salamandras y la Civilizacion, and many others.

2 Cf. War with the Newts, Book 1, Chapter 12.

3 This is proved by the very first cutting in Mr Povondra’s collection:

NEWT MARKET REPORT

(CTK) According to the latest report issued by the Salamander Syndicate at the end of the last quarter, sales of Newts have increased by 30 per cent. Over the past three months deliveries of Newts totalled nearly 70 million, chiefly to South and Central America, Indochina and Italian Somaliland. Projects scheduled for the near future include the deepening and widening of the Panama Canal, the dredging of the harbour of Guayaquil and the removal of all shoals and sandbars in the Torres Straits. These works alone, according to approximate estimates, involve the removal of 9 billion cubic metres of solid soil. Construction of solid aircraft islands on the Madeira-Bermuda route is expected to commence next spring. In-fill work in the Mariana islands under Japanese Mandate continues; so far 840,000 acres of new, so-called light, dry land has been won between the islands of Tinian and Saipan. In view of growing demand Newt prices are very firm: Leading 61, Team 620. Supplies are adequate.

4 Such obstacles are illustrated, for instance, by this report, cut from a newspaper without indication of date:

BRITAIN CLOSING THE DOOR TO NEWTS?

(Reuter) In reply to a Commons question by Mr J. Leeds MP, Sir Samuel Mandeville today stated that HM Government had closed the Suez Canal to all Newt transports; the Government did not intend to permit a single Newt to be employed on the coast or in the territorial waters of the British Isles. The reasons for these measures, Sir Samuel explained, were, on the one hand, the security of the British shores and, on the other, the continued validity of ancient laws and treaties on the abolition of the slave trade.

In reply to a question by Mr B. Russell MP, Sir Samuel stated that this practice did not of course apply to British Dominions or Colonies.

5 The weapon used for this purpose almost universally was a pistol invented by the engineer Mirko Safranek and manufactured by the Brno Armaments Works.

6 Cf. this newspaper story:

STRIKE MOVEMENT IN AUSTRALIA

(Havas) Australian trade union leader Harry MacNamara has called for a general strike of all dockside, transport, power station and other workers. The unions demand that imports of working Newts to Australia be subject to strict quotas in accordance with immigration legislation. Australian farmers, on the other hand, are seeking a liberalisation of Newt imports since this would greatly stimulate sales of domestic maize and animal fats, especially mutton fat. The Government is trying to achieve a compromise; the Salamander Syndicate is offering to pay the trade unions six shillings as a contribution for every Newt imported.

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