BRITAIN'S OVERTURES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 169, 19 July 1910, Page 5

BRITAIN'S OVERTURES.

RESPONSIBILITY OF REJECTION. WAR PARTIES DOMINANT. PROGRESS TOWARDS FRIENDSHIP. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright) (Received 8.50 ajtu) BERLIN, July 18. Many German newspapers resent the attempt to saddle the public with the responsibility of rejecting the British overtures, and allege that the programme is enforced by war parties, whose ambition it is to hold supremacy on land and sea. Germany would resist dictation as to her armaments, but it is very different when the greatest sea Power extends her hand with a yiew to the limitation of armaments. In Mr. Asquith's speech, the "North German Gazette" ignores his references to British advances to Germany for a cessation of naval rivalry. The newspaper "Norddeutscher Allgemeine Zeitung 1, rejoices at the pleasing change in Anglo-German relations, and hopes that the question of armaments will henceforward be calmly and dispassionately discussed.

The future relations of the peoples will then correspondingly improve, it says, and general confidence in peace be strengthened afresh. The Radical "Morgenpost" strenuously argues that German opinion favours the restriction of naval armaments. The "Wiener Tageblat." which is in close touch with the Foreign Office, eulogises Mr. Asquith's utterances, and infers that Mr. Asquith is considering the possibility of aa understanding with Germany.