The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. TUESDAY, MAY 22, 1917.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 121, 22 May 1917, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

TUESDAY, MAY 22, 1917.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs reaiitanct, For the future in the distance. And the good that an can da.

Every now and asain the cable mcsj sages from London tell us of sayings of a small hand of Socialists in the House of Commons. Messrs. Snowjen. Ramsay Mac Donald, and one or two * others. We cannot appreciate their position. It they honestly believe the war B was not caused by Austria and Germany, 1 and that the English and French and Russians began the war, we can understand their -desiring that no punishment should be inflicted on Germany, Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria; but if our enemies began the war, and violated all international rules and Hague conventions, ■why should they escape punishment? No sane and truthful person can affirm that the war wae begun by France, Russia. England, or Belgium. The treaty between Germany and others with Belgium »ag violated by Germany. The Belgian territory was invaded and laid waste. , The German ruJere wonld not listen to, ■ England, France, or Russia to leave the [ trouble in Serbia to an impartial tribunal. If, then, our enemies began the war, why should we grant them peace without punishment? Indeed, Mr. Snowden, by admitting that Belgium should be restored and indemnified, admits the principle of punishment. There are thousands of prisoners in English prisons for violations of England's laws. They are Englishmen and Englishwomen, imprisoned for various crimes—for manslaughter, attempted murder, grievous assaults, rapes, arson, and robbery. Would Messrs. isnowden and MaeDonaJd and their confreres set all these prisoners I free? Their conduct has not been co j abominable ac the criminals of Germany who have murdered non-combatants and made, slaves of innocent people in Belgium, in Poland, and Northern France. Let these Labour Socialists be logical and consistent. Jf crime is to go unpunished, let there be equality. English ■wrongdoere should not be kept in prison i"f German wrongdoers are not to Tx punished. The proper course to adopt would be to make as a term of the peace agreement not only the payment of indemnities, but that the rulers and their officers who violated international law! should bo tried by some impartial tribunal. We could refer to the many crimes Germans have committed in Belgium, in France, in Russia, in Rumania, and in Serbia. Let us refer only to the recent slave raids in Northern France. According to the Hague Conventions—conventions which Germany accepted—the fol- j lowing rules were laid down: (1) Until I a more complete code of the laws of war can be issued, the high contracting! parties think it expedient to declare that j in cases not included in the regulations i adopted by them the populations and' ■belligerents remain under the protection and the rule of the principles of the j lams of nations, as they result from the usages established between civilised j nations, from the laws of humanity, and j the requirements of the public conscience. (2) All the Powers expressing the right of sovereignty, or exercising influence in the said territories, engage to preserve the native populations, to ameliorate their moral an.J material conditions of life, and to co-operate in the suppression of slavery, and, above all. of the slave: trade. (3) Family honour and rights. the lives of individuals and private property, ac well as religions convictions and liberty of worship, must be respected. Jn , violation of these ruJee thousands of j French people have been taken from their i ( houses, made to work in the fields with- ; j out proper accommodation, no beds, no \ proper food; in fact, have been made. slaves. Families have been separated, I young girle sent with men under no pro- I tection, and their parents know not > j .where they have gone. Our readers can ' i :see full details in a pamphlet published ] *>y Hodder and Stoughton, which gives ' a translation of the official documents. I And these "Labour .Socialists -, wish these {

criminals, -who have violated a law to ■which, as a nation, they assented, to go unpunished! We must distinguish between annexations and restorations. For example. Alsace and Lorraine were annexed by Germany contrary to the will of their inhabitants. Haw the Alsatians were treated we need not point out; they were not treated as citizens. Is justice not now to be done to the people of Alsace and Lorraine? Arc they to bo kept under the heel of Prussian autocracy, and not allowed to come under the Republic of France? Who ask that such restoration be denied them? Some of the Labour Socialists of Britain! The future of <>rman colonies involves other considerations. The way in which Germany treated her African colonies did not differ much from the way the Congo inhabitants were treated by the rubber growers, or the inhabitants of Peru in I'uf.imayo by the same class. Are we to allow Germany to retake these African territories, and to have murder, rapine, and slavery re-enactej? This is a pretty programme to come from 1.-abour .Socialists. We may refer also to Samoa. Germany has held two islands of Samoa, (polu and Savaii, since the beginning of the Boer war. These islands were civilised by British people. Williams was the first missionary to Samoa, and at the time that Britain weakly allowed Germany to take possession every village had a church and a school. The Germane took porwession; they had had a war in Upohi, and killed many of Malietoa'g followers, and his followers were threefifths o; the people of Upolu. They ex patriated many chiefs, and they have so managed these islands that the natives do not wish to be again placed under German rule. The people of a country or of a nation have a right to determine how they are to be governed, and the Snowdens and Ramsay Mac-Donalds so proclaim. Samoa must not go back to (k-rmany. These islands should l>e restored to their former position. In 1883 tlwy asked to be joined to New Zealand, but weak men, with no full idea of Empire, were in power in Knpland. and their desire was not granted. The conduct of the small band of Socialistic pacifists in England is most mischievous, and it shows the freedom of England that they should be permitted to preach disloyalty to the Empire, for their utterances cannot be otherwisr regarded. We have no doubt the Governments of Australia and New Zealand have already had something to say about the colonies now in British hands that were formerly under German rule.