ENGLAND AND GERMANY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 237, 3 October 1908, Page 11

ENGLAND AND GERMANY.

LABOUR PARTY'S ATTITUDE. DAME RUMOUR'S TALES. <From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, August 21st. The relations bet-ween England! and Germany continue to be the subject of a lively controversy in the English Press. There has been plenty of material for discussion—the King's visit to the Kaiser at Cronberg, Mr. Lloyd-George's statements to foreign interviewers, the rumour of a hundred million loan for naval construction, rumours of dissension in the Cabinet on the question of the naval programme and a host of minor points and issues. They all centre round the interesting problem. Is Germany preparing to make war on England? As regards the King's visit to Cronberg, tlie most satisfactory feature of it is that it could be possible to discuss the shipbuilding policy there at all. Two years ago Germany would not have listened to any representations on tho subject. To-day the King and the Kaiser have discussed the matter amicably. So far, so good. But of practical result it is to be feared the Royal meeting will not produce much. Whatever the understanding arrived at may be, it can have no bearing on the expansion of the German fleet in the immediate future for the German building programme for the next few years is already fixed l by law. Nothing can interfere with the operations of the German Navy Act, 19081917, except an amending Navy Act, and the German Press arc practically unanimous in stating that in no circumstances will a limitation of the scope of the building programme adopted early this year be discussed. Each year from 1908 "to 1911 there will be begun three German Dreadnoughts, one Indomitable, two second class protected cruisers, and twelve torpedo boat destroyers. And each year from 1912 to 1917 there will be begun one Dreadnought, one Indomitable, two second-class cruisers and twelve torpedo boat destroyers. According to an official German account of the meeting at Cronberg, England proposes to meet this programme v.'ith a four years' programme to be introduced into Parliament next year, providing that for every ship built by Germany, England will build two. It is rumoured! that to carry out this plan the Liberal Government will issue a loan of a hundred) mi"i-

lions; but whether there is any ground for such a rumour nobody seems to know. Evidently the Stock Exchange—most sensitive of international political barometers —does not set much store by this rumour, for consols remain steady, with an inclination to rise. Mr. Lloyd George in Germany, and Mr. Winston Churchill at Swansea, have been, denouncing the talk of hostility and proffering assurances that they are in favour of a reduction of the crushing burden of armaments. This had led the " Standard " to assert that these Cabinet Ministers are intriguing to drive Sir Edward Grey, the Foreign Minister, out of the Government. To this allegation Mr. Lloyd George has telegraphed an emphatic contradiction, denouncing it as "only part of the general campaign of slander and scurrility to which Mr. Churchill and myself have been subjected." The " Standard " backed down a little in the face of this dienial, but continued to assert that the two Ministers in question are making a. joint and several attempt to thwart the policy of Sir Edward Grey. LABOUR LEADERS AT VARIANCE. Meanwhile a somewhat heated debate i= going on within the Labour party as Lv the intentions, warlike or otherwise, of Germany in regard to England. Mr. Keir Hardic, speaking for the Labour party, denounces the threat of a German invasion as "a deliberately manufactured scare, concocted by the ghouls of both countries who live by preying upon the credulity of the public." This very Keir-Hardie-ish talk is challenged by such well-known Labour writers as Mr. Robert Blatchford and Mr. H. M. l'yndman, who take the same view as licbel, the famous German Socialist leader, namely, that Germany is preparing for a naval war against England. This week, Mr. Blatcnford devotes a v.-hole page of the "Clarion" to a discussion of the case, and summarises the evidence on which he bases his conclusion that. Germany means to attack England, and is preparing now for the attack. The only proof of this conclusion would be a German declaration of war, or a German invasion; but Mr. Blatchford contends that there are 0.-jiple motives for German action on the lines he has indicated. He summarises these motives as under:— 1. The German population is increasing rapidly. Germany requires room for expansion. 2. Great Britain has taken all the most desirable colonies. Great Britain

holds India, Egypt, Canada, Australasia, .- New Zealand, the best of Africa. i 3. Great Britain holds fortresses and i coaling-stations all over the world —Gib- < raltar, Malta, Cyprus, Cape Town, Dur- i ban, and many others. i xjOok at a map ana see what Gibraltar ' and Dover mean to Germany." 4. Germany and England are keen j commercial rivals. How many wars ' have been caused by commercial rivalry? ' 5. Germany has no proper seaboard. 1 She, very naturally, wishes for a proper seaboard. She can only obtain that by tieaty or war with Holland. The integrity of Holland is guaranteed by Great Britain. How many wars has Kussia waged in her efforts to get access to the sea? 6. The German rulers are ambitious. They believe that it is Germany's destiny to become the dominant Power of the world. They have defeated Austria and France, and only Britain stands between them and the realisation of their hopes. Mr. Keir Hardic winds up his counterblast with a "Hoch! hoch! hoch! for the International Solidarity of Labour and the Destruction of the War Spirit." "With all my heart," replies Mr. Blatchford. "But I cannot feel so sure as Hardic feels that our 'hochs!' will convert the Kaiser and' the German war . party to Socialism."