56 J 
THE AMER1C AN-SC AN DIN AVI AN REVIEW 
Norway 
fj A bill lias been submitted to the Storting empowering the govern¬ 
ment to take the necessary measures for supporting the Norwegian 
mining companies at Spitsbergen so that the mines shall not have to be 
sold to foreigners. The criticism has been made from Socialist quar¬ 
ters that the Norwegian labor laws are not being enforced on the 
islands. In reply Foreign Minister Mowinckel stated that the Stor¬ 
ting had no legal right to enforce these laws so long as the question of 
Norway’s sovereignty is still hanging fire. The Norwegian proposal 
to apply Norwegian labor laws at Spitsbergen has met with opposi¬ 
tion from some of the powers who have mining interests on the islands. 
tJThe visit of the new English Shakespeare company to Christiania. 
June 21 to 23, was a great success. Three performances were 
given: Much Ado about Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, and 
Twelfth Night. At all three every seat in the big National Theatre 
was taken. The king and queen were in the royal box each night. 
Premier Blehr and Foreign Minister Mowinckel were also among the 
spectatois. The press criticism, with one exception, was very favor¬ 
able, Miss Dorothy Green and Air. Baliol Holloway being especially 
piaised. King Haakon has just returned from a trip of northern 
Norway. On June 25 he opened the new traffic road in Vesteraalen, 
Bisoysund. The king’s ship Finmdrken was accompanied on its voy¬ 
age through the sound by about one hundred and fifty ships. The work 
of making Bisoysund navigable to big steamers has taken many years, 
and its completion is an event of the greatest importance to the north¬ 
ern fishing district with its rapidly developing commerce. The king 
spent three weeks on this official visit to northern Norway and went as 
far as to Vadso. Everywhere he was received with the greatest enthu¬ 
siasm, the farmers and fishermen often going long* distances to greet 
him. t| The eagerly awaited appointment of the new bishops in Oslo 
(Christiania) and Hamar bishoprics took place at last on July 14. 
after several months of heated discussion in the press. At the epis¬ 
copal elections some months ago, Bev. Johan Lunde for Oslo and 
Bev. Mikkel Bjonnes Jacobsen for Hamar received the greatest num¬ 
ber of votes, but inasmuch as both these candidates are known to be 
pronounced conservative theologians, their appointment was strongly 
opposed by the liberal group of the church, which put forward Dean 
Jens Gleditsch and Bev. Erling Gronland as candidates. The govern¬ 
ment, however, was guided in its appointment by the results of the 
poll, and Lunde and Jacobsen were appointed. {J The government 
proposal for a reform of the foreign service has been carried by the 
Storting with a big majority. The law creates the position of uten- 
riksraad or general secretary to the foreign department. To this post 
J. Esmarch, counsellor to the legation in Berlin, has been appointed. 
