MORANT 



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 vices diirin;' tin- war. The ivuly 

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was a copy. In the latter 



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small hiuh-speed biplanes for 



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Morant, Si K ROBERT LAURIE 

 MJ20). British civil servant 

 Tin- son of Robert Morant, a I.OM- 

 doner, he was 

 born April 7, 

 1863, and edu- 

 cated at Win- 

 chester and 

 New College, 

 Oxford. A p- 

 pointed tutor 

 to the royal 

 family of Siam, 

 Sir R. L. Morant, he won the 

 British civil servant confidence of 

 xinou * rr the king> who 



gave him the task of reorganizing 

 the national system of education. 

 I Jet uriiing to England, he joined the 

 board of education as examiner in 

 1894. In 1 895 he was made assistant 

 director of special inquiries and re- 

 ports, and he made his reputation by 

 mating the Education Act of 1902. 



1 Vrm.inent secretary of the board of 

 education, 1903-11, and knighted 

 in 1907, Morant was selected by 

 Lloyd George in 1911 as first chair- 

 man of the health insurance com- 

 mission, and was made secretary 

 of the ministry of health in 1919. 

 He died on March 13, 1920. 



Morar. Loch or lake of Inver- 

 ness-shire, Scotland. It is 12 m. 

 long, with an extreme breadth of 



2 m. In the very W of the county, 

 its waters are carried to the sea by 

 a short stream. The district 

 around is known as Morar. 



Morar. Village of India, in 

 Gwalior state, Central India 

 Agency. It is 3J m. from the 

 fortress of Gwalior, and was origin- 

 ally a British cantonment. 



Morat (Ger. Murten). Town of 

 Switzerland, in the canton of 

 Fribourg. It stands on the S.E. 

 side of the Lake of Morat, 18m. by 

 rly. W. of Berne, and is connected 

 by steamboat and rly. with Neu- 

 chatel. Its old town gate and walls 

 are well preserved, and in its 

 town hall is a unique collection of 

 Burgundian weapons. Its 13th 

 century castle, with a garrison of 

 1,500 men, resisted the artillery of 

 Charles the Bold for 10 days before 

 the battle of Morat, June 22, 1476, 

 when Charles sustained a disas- 

 trous defeat. Morat was taken 

 from Savoy by the Swiss in 1475, 

 and annexed to Fribourg in 

 1814. The lake has an area of 10J 

 sq. m., and is connected by the 

 Broye with that of Neuchatel. 

 On its banks prehistoric dwellings 

 have been found. Pop. 2,400. 



BS23 



Moratella. Town of Spain, in 

 the prov. of Murcia. It stands on 

 an affluent of the river Krgura, 40 

 m. N.W. of Mr- 

 cia, and 6 m. E. 

 of Calasparra sta- 

 tion. Wine and 

 oil are produced, 

 and a coarse kind 

 of cloth, soap, 

 and alcohol 



U ).' 



Moratella arms 



manufactured. 

 Pop. 12,700. 

 Moratorium ( Lat. mora, delay). 

 Literally, postponement, a period 

 in which no business engagements 

 can be completed, or debts or 

 other liabilities enforced. In times 

 when a financial panic is feared, a 

 government will sometimes declare 

 a moratorium for a certain number 

 of days, thus giving public confi- 

 dence a chance to recover. On the 

 outbreak of the Great War in 

 August, 1914, a royal proclama- 

 tion declared a moratorium of 

 a month for all bills of exchange. 



A Postponement of Payments 

 Act gave the government power to 

 declare a general moratorium if the 

 occasion demanded, and the pay- 

 ment of all liabilities, except wages, 

 salaries, rates, taxes, interest, 

 dividends, and small debts, which 

 fell due between Aug. 4 and Sept. 

 4, was postponed for a month. The 

 three days, Aug. 4, 5, and 6, were 

 declared additional bank holidays, 

 this being in practice a moratorium. 

 Morava. River of Moravia, also 

 known as the March (q.v. ). 



Morava. River of Serbia. It is 

 formed by the junction of the 

 southern Morava and the western 

 Morava, which occurs near Krushe- 

 vatz. The S. Morava rises in the 

 height of land stretching E. from 

 the Kara Dagh, above tjskub, 

 partly in Serbia and partly in Bul- 

 garia, from the other side of which 

 flows the Vardar, and its course is 

 N. to its junction with the W. 

 Morava, which rises in the Gotija 

 range, S. of Ushitse. The combined 

 rivers, known as the Morava, wind 

 N., and fall into the Danube, after 

 a course of about 250 m., near 

 Semendria. The Morava and the 

 Vardar form a great natural sunken 

 corridor in the Balkans from Bel- 

 grade to Salonica. The Morava 

 valley was prominent in the Great 

 War. See Serbia, Conquest of. 

 Moravia. Central portion of 



^ =Z~ jf the republic 



^4'>r^f of Czecho-Slo- 

 rt^Ziir-T vakia, formerly 

 the Austrian 

 prov. of Mahren 

 m Austria-Hun- 

 gary. 



Physically it is 

 separated from 

 Moravia arms the rest of the 



MORAVIA 



republic. Bohemia, on the W., is a 

 plate.au which slope* to the mouth 

 of tin- HI >><, and away from Mora- 

 via; Slovakia, to tin- V... he, within 

 the sweep of the Carpathians. 

 Moravia is almost wholly the 

 basin of the March or Morava, 

 sloping S. towards the basin of 

 Vienna from the Sudeten on the 

 N.W., except in the N.E., where 

 the Moravian Gate, between the 

 Sudctes and the Carpathians, leads 

 N. to Silesia and Galicia. TheThaya 

 valley is roughly the S. boundary, 

 separating Moravia from the re- 

 public. The height of land between 

 Moravia and Bohemia averages 

 1,500 to 2,000 ft., with passes near 

 Iglau and Zwittau. The March is 

 the chief river, for the Oder and 

 the Vistula merely begin within the 

 province ; its main affluent is the 

 Thaya, which is fed by the Iglawa, 

 Zwittawa, and Schwarzawa. 



A quarter of the country is 

 forested, chiefly with pines and 

 oaks. Rather more than half is 

 cultivated, and, the soil being fer- 

 tile, Moravia was in many respects 

 the most productive agricultural 

 province of the Dual Monarchy 

 of Austria-Hungary. In the S. 

 maize, fruit, and vines ; in the 

 centre, wheat, barley, and sugar 

 beet ; and in the N., rye, oats, flax, 

 and potatoes are the staple farm 

 products. Cattle are numerous, 

 especially in the Moravian Gate ; 

 horses thrive in the centre ; goats 

 and merino sheep are numerous. 

 Coal is mined on the Silesian 

 border, W. of Brno, and near 

 Coding ; iron ore is mined in the 

 Sudetes. Brno is the capital ; 

 other towns being Mahrisch Os- 

 trau, Olmutz, Iglau, and Prerau. 



The rly. system partially centres 

 on Brno, but in the S.W. and on 

 the E., main lines from Prague 

 and Silesia respectively run to 

 Vienna without touching Brno ; 

 the main line between Brno and 

 Prague is not direct, but goes N. 

 through Zwittau. 



Before the advent of the Magyar 

 hordes in Central Europe, Moravia 

 was inhabited by Slavs. In the 9th 

 century the people became Christ- 

 ians, at the instance of the Greek 

 missionaries, Cyril and Methodius. 

 Moravia was held by the Czech 

 rulers of Bohemia during the 10th 

 century, and Ottacar II, 1253-78, 

 who had governed Moravia during 

 his father's lifetime, extended the 

 Czech power to the Adriatic. 

 King Matthias of Hungary also 

 ruled over Moravia and Silesia, 

 and was succeeded by Vladislav of 

 Poland, who had been elected to 

 the throne of Bohemia in 1471. 

 After the fateful fight at Mohacs, 

 the Haps burgs came to power ; in 

 1612 Matthias, who had ruled 



