TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 48, 25 August 1914, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY

When Parliament* was adjourned eleven days ago, the Premier expressed a hope that when members reassembled on 26th August they would strive to apply their minds to necessary legislative business. Yet no doubt Mr. Massey and his Ministerial colleagues would be glad to have a few more days clear for the hard work required by the despatch of the Expeditionary Force. Private members also have much additional activity in assisting with the organising process of this Empire Defence Fund. Until the troopships begin the long voyage to the Old World, the legislators, in high, medium, and mediocre positions, will be pleased to plead that they need all their energy for Imperial service. This week may conclude the, first part of that great programme of aid for the Mother Country, and then the General Assembly should prepare to settle down steadily to a term of work. Worry, suspense, and anxiety about the issue of battles will not be a fair excuse for an indefinite delay of important national work. Parliament's plain duty is to set an example of persevering, dauntless industry. If the Representatives weakly yield, persistently, to a temptation to be distraught and unsettled, this attitude will be a nuisance to those New Zealanders who are giving proofs of the futility of groundless fears and baseless alarms. One result of the war may be to reduce the nations' faith in Hague conventions and treaties. Delegates at conferences which arrange rules of war are earnest and sincere in their desire to set up a mutually satisfactory code, but when a fight begins the rule-book may be missing from the army baggage. For example, Admiralty reports state that the Germans have broken the international agreement in regard to mines on trade routes. The Germans have looked at the matter from their own viewpoint, -and they have decided to resort to the tactics which in their belief will help them to win. When the Declaration of London was being discussed by Uio House of Lords, lour years ago, Lord Ellenborough paid that "such approval M th^NftVJ. g»v« to tbfi £«op,OAtt£» wa B

Parliament and the War.

Belligerents and Neutrals.

based on the conviction that the Declaration would be flung into the sea directly hostilities commenced, and that it would count for nothing in a life-and-death struggle between two first-class Powers. Tangles of dubious wording would be cut by the sword." The speaker did not imply that the British Navy would break any agreement, but suggested that the naval authorities knew the terms of an elaborate compact would be broken somehow. In the case of the regulations as to mine-laying the wording is not dubious ; the rules are clear and concise, and yet they have been utterly ignored by Germany, whose one rule appears to be that power or opportunity to flout an agreement carries its own warrant of right. The evidence shows that the German naval strategists had deliberately planned a scheme of indiscriminate mine-laying, on an assumption that any resultant destructive contact would usually be suffered by shipping either directly hostile or not helpful to Germany. An extract in The Post's news columns to-day from the Declaration of London shows that Britain is opposed to the transfer, by sale, of German merchant ships to the register of the United States unless proper provision is made to ensure that the enemy country is not escaping the consequences of the state of war. One argument used is that it may be a more shrewd policy for Britain to promote than to hinder a sale, because if there is no transfer the vessels may lie safely in neutral ports till the end of the war and then revert to their German owners. The answer is that if Germans^ receive a fair price now for their /ships they are free from further anxiety and relieved of maintenance and port charges ; they have also the means, by_ the proceeds of sale, to buy similar snips at a favourable time. Undoubtedly American intervention as a buyer now would be hailed with delight in Germany. The report that the Allies have decided to act in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of London is a polite hint to , the United States that the purchase of German ships would not be regarded as a friendly act by the nations opposed to Germany, and it is therefore unlikely that the buying scheme will be further pushed. Neutral countries will be well pleased if the Allies do thoroughly observe the provisions concerned with neutrals. The Naval Annual mentions that the Declaration had its origin in a. state of affairs which was universally felt to be unsatisfactory, especially in the hardships it imposed upon neutrals. During the Russo-Japanese war the contraband lists published by both belligerents were so wide and vague that shipowners did not know what they might or might not lawfully carry as cargo, and they had no knowledge of the treatment they might receive in the belligerent prize courts. "It must be realised," wrote one reviewer, "that the Declaration is very largely the outcome of increase in the strength and influence of, neutral Powers, and that practices cannot be adopted in modern war which were possible in former times without incurring the gravest risk of converting neutrals into belligerents."