BRITISH DIPLOMACY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 143, 19 June 1922, Page 2

BRITISH DIPLOMACY.

OPINION IN AMERICA. JX>RD BALFOUR'S STRATEGY. IMPRESSIONS OF NEW ZEALAXDER > 1 "The average New Zealandcr does not ■ o-ct, a proper opinion of the American," • remarked Mr. A. J. Wycherley, a \Vel- " lington business man, to a reporter. Mr. Wycherley returned recently by the - Niagara fron'- his second visit to New York and other parts of the United ' States. "We say that he 'skitcs," he ' continued. "Well, so he docs, and does ; not do it by halves. But, then, he ha.3 ■ something to 'skitc' about. The New ' Zcalander does not see him at home. 1 They are a wonderful people, and com- ■ mercially, in my opinion, they are ' marvellous!" TRADE CONDITIONS. ', Air. Wycherly found business condi- \ tions in the United States very dppressI ' n g generally, although there was a spirit of optimise prevailing among business men. and it was believed that the worst ' was now over, and that there would be ,an improvement. The New Zealander , found the Americans very keen to do \ business, and anxious to take orders. He had successfully found a company there , for a New Zealand patent. They were , very interested in this country when told , about it, lie remarked, but very feiv , outside business circles knew of the . Dominion's existence, or. if they did, . believed it to be a part of Australia. One , man imagined it to be part of Alaska, , while another psaayed the opinion that New Zealand was "somewhere: over ncur . Newfoundland." 1 AUSTRALASIANS WELCOMED. The New Zenlander commented on tin fact that although Australasians wen; given a warm welcome in the Land of ! the Stars and Stripes, the Britisher was not liked; he referred particularly to the ' Englishman. This vtas due very considerably to the Irish question, whicli he found exciting more interest and con- ' ment in New York than when ha visited London. Another factor, spreading a ' propaganda of virulence against Britain, was the Hirst Press, which conducted a ' campaign against everything pertaining 'to the English, and pandered to the ' taste in this direction of a large section of the public. "MARGOT." " ' He was in the United States when i Mrs. Asquith paid her recent lecturing ■ visit, and commented on the campaign ■ of ridicule that the wife of the former Prime Minister of Britain had to contend with. "I do not say that she is not ridiculed in England, but in America she ; was considered nothing more than a joke," he said. "However, I think that Mrs. Asquith achieved her purpose, a? her meetings were well attended." The same attitude wae taken up by the Yellow Press, when Lady -_tor. M.P., visited the L'nited States recently with her husband. The Hirst press bitterly attacked her because she took part in the controversy on the soldiers' bonus question. The Press took the view that as a former American, who had lost her nationality by marrying a foreigner, she had no right to take part in a national question. Lady Astor also had to submit to a campaign of ridicule. Mr. Wycherley mentioned that as a result of this campaign about a million signatures were obtained favouring the granting of the bonus, and placed in a motor car, driven by soldiers, was .taken to Washington and placed before the President. Another factor that contributed to the dislike of the Englishman in America, was the thought that the Americans had ben outwitted by the j diplomacy of Lord Balfour. Although such was not admitted, it was the opinI ion of many that the United States had been beaten at the Washington Conference by the strategy of the British j statesman, and as the result, had been ; pushed into the League of Nations by j the back door, after having refused to enter by the front door.