WORLD AFFAIRS,

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 28, 2 February 1928, Page 6

WORLD AFFAIRS,

A WEEKLY REVIEW.

(By BYSTANDER)

It was certain that the death of Marshal Haig I have never attained familiarity with his other title—would be the signal for a great outburst of panegyric and eulogy, and in my opinion he richly deserved it. His best friends have never claimed for him that he was a lieaven-born general endowed with profound genius in military affairs. But he was a stubborn and courageous fighter a man gifted with remarkable tenacity of purpose and self-control; and he possessed in a high decree that rarest of public virtues, the ability" to subordinate himself and his own feelings to the interests of the cause in which he was As a man he was, of course, better known in England and Scotland than abroad, and for that very reason the praise bestowed upon him in 1 ranee, and even in Germany, is all the more impressive. I am glad to see that Colonel James, who was once a ''Times" war correspondent, and who commanded King Edward's Horse in the Great War, has laid stress upon the important fact that at the extreme crisis of the struggle in 1918 it was Haig who persuaded Mr. Llovd George that unless there were unified command the Allied cause would be lost," aud it was Haig himself who recommended Foch for the High Command, and expressed his own willingness to serve under him. It is all tho more neccssary to remember this, because no one could guess the truth about it from •vnat Mr. Lloyd George thought it desirable U say in his tribute to mciiiorv. The Oil War. !or many years past the two greatest petroleum combines in the world, Standard Oil and Royal Dutch, have been engaged in desperate conflict, and their present quarrel over the purchase of oil in Russia is merely an incidental bit of byplay. Some time ago the two great rivals agreed that they would not deal with the Soviet State on any terms, until the foreign owners of tho confiscated oil fields in Russia had been compensated. Apparently Standard Oil and the American Vacuum Company have gone behind this agreement, and the American Government is said to ha\e purchased Russian oil for the navv, arguing that it was not recognising the Soviet by so doing, because it was operating through privat'e channels. But seemingly this difficulty is capable of adjustment, and Sir Henri Deterding is now on a visit to America with tho object of arranging a truce in this particular field. But it is not at all probable that this is a prelude to any permanent alliance between the two rivals, because their interests are in a commercial sense largely antagonistic, and their activities are closely associated with the policy of Britain and the United States respectively. A Great Captain of Industry. Sir Henri Deterding, whose name frequently appears in the table columns in this connection, is by far the most conspicuous and important personality in the field of conflict. He became director-general of the Royal Dutch Company in 1900. at a time when, according to Admiral Fisher, all the shares in the company could have been bought for £40,000; and we gain some idea of the man's extraordinary capacity for commercial organisation and high finance when we learn that in 1913 the same shares were worth £40.000,000. One reason for this astounding success is that Deterding, after absorbing Sir Marcus Samuel's Shell Oil concern, induced the Rothschilds to see that there were great prospects in the business. With unlimited funds at his control, gifted himself with extraordinary courage, foresight, and energy, Deterding has carried the war against Standard Oil round the world, and even into the enemy's camp. In 1912, when Royal Dutch paid a dividend of 41 per cent, Deterding bought up a number of American oil fields, and even floated more than £4,000,000 worth of these shares on tho New York market. In 1915 he bought out the great Mexican Eagle concern from Lord Cowdray, and having become a naturalised British subject. I and moved his headquarters from the Hague to I London, he was able to place the whole of the vast! resources controlled by hi.-, combine at the disposal of Britain, who "iuvded every gallon of oil she could possibly procure."' The reward for this service, according to one of the leading authorities on the subject, has been that "Royal Dutch received the political backing of the British Government in its fight for oil concessions all over the world." If Mohr, who wrote "The Oil War," or de la Tramereye, who wrote "The World Struggle for Oil,'' ever writes an oil epic, Sir Henri Deterding will certainly be its hero. Czar or Naturalist. Forty years ago Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg was an officer in the Austrian army, living a life of luxury on his magnificent estates, and giving all his spare time to the study of botanv and entomology. Then, in an evil hour for him Alexander of Battenberg lost the Bulgarian throne! and a deputation of Bulgarian nobles, wandering disconsolately homeward after vainly searching tho courts of Europe for a possible* kin::, accidentally heard of Ferdinand in Vienna. Tliev interviewed him—he was grandson of Louis Philippe of France, in any ca>c—and they offered him the \acant chair at Sofia. Ferdinand accepted and entered on that long and devious path which at one moment seemed to be leading him direct to Constantinople and the overlord-hip of the Balkans, and in the end brought him out through the sanguinary chaos of the Great War a fugitive and an exile. When Ferdinand first came to Bulgaria it was observed that he gave most of his leisure to botanising on the hills near Sofia. Now that the end of all things has come for him, he is returning to his first love, the interests and pursuits of his youth. He has just cancelled all his engagements for the year, and he is off to South America "to hunt for butterflies'* and to search the tropical forests of Brazil for "three new species of birds. ' Truly a versatile and enigmatic character, this Red Fox of the Balkans; and the touch of scientific enthusiasm in his complicated "make-up" suggests that there was more good in him than appears to be indicated by the records of his public and political career. An Unpleasant Quarrel. The official gazette of the Fascist Government has practically given notice that Italy will denounce her treaty of friendship and goodwill with Jugoslavia in six months' time. This, of course, only means that the two States are not \ now on such amicable terms as when the treaty' was signed, but it is made the occasion for "a violent attack upon the Yugoslavs, including an attempt to involve France in the indictment. The truth, of course, is that ever since Italy at the close of the war, relying on the secret Pact of London, tried to secure Dalmatia and the Adriatic coast for herself, the Southern Slavs have suspected her motives and intentions. When a year ago Italy signed with Albania the treaty of Tirana, this was accepted by the Yugoslavs iis a direct threat and challenge, and they "made hasteto arrange a treaty with France on extremely! intimate and friendly terms. Italy resents this though Italian aggression is largely to blame for the whole trouble. But it is unfortunate that quarrels arising out of the war or the settlement should be perpetuated, and particularly that they should involve one or other of the Great Powers.