POST-WAR EUROPE

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19971, 4 July 1930, Page 4

POST-WAR EUROPE

TREATMENT OF MINORITIES A STRONG INDICTMENT. (took oub ovm coaaispoxx>sxr.t LONDON. May 80. Professor C. Stanton Hicks, formerly of Dunedin and now Professor at the Adelaide University, has been making an extended tour of Europe, mainly for scientific research, but he has also interested himself in politics. In a letter from Vienna he writes very feelingly in regard to the partitioning of Europe as a result of the Peace Treaty, - and constitutes himself a strong - advocate for the right of the minorities. Dr. and Mrs Hicks visited many places in Italy. "We noted," he says, "that the Fascisti regime had made improvements, though the übiquitous Fascist himself became rather boring. The sight of smartly cleaned locomotives, steaming in with polished 'Fasces' before the funnel reminds one of the presence of II Duce, even in Vienna. Milan is dirty and noisymore so than one would credit. Everywhere in the country there is evidence of the Eisorgimento, and there are many lessons to be learned from a visit to Italy. "Prom Venice, over Udine and the Julian Alps, we travelled to Vienna. The plains of Campo Formio recall Cavour, the last Napoleon who wept to see the slaughter in this area of the dreaded Hapsburg Triangle, the Sardinian king who was to rule united Italy, and Garibaldi, the patriot whose birthplace was given to France as a bribe for her dilatory aid. Udine was the headquarters of the Austrian army during the Great War. The people speak with kindness of their enemy guests. It is a pity that an Austrian airman dropped a bomb just in front of the famous Cathedral of St. Mark, in Venice. It spoiled a good record, and leaves a permanent denunciation inscribed upon a marble slab let into the spot.

Austria's Condition* 4 'To a New Zealander," Dr. Hicks continued, "Austria must always appeal as one of the most beautiful countries of the world. It has every beauty but that of a tea coast, and in addition, is peopled by a charming and lovable folk. Here onp liAizi'V* tn find th* injustices of treaties settled by warweary nations. It is, of course, obvious that the South Tyrol treatment at present is one of the worst attempts at denationalising a brave people that bas ever been made. These Tyroleans, whose fighting ability was so great that no Italian ever set foot in their land during the war, must now in i Bozen gaze upon the statue erected to the Italian general who was unable to conquer them, and read the eulogy "to his 'achievement.' Children may not talk German in their homes to their German parents, who know no Italian —but let us hope that the League of Nations will sooner or later end this injustice. The Tyroleans do not ever cry to go back to their brethren in Austria, a most just settlement. A.ll they ask is that they may use their own language, and when they die they mnv havo the privilege of inscribing their names in German on their tombstone. ... "The Peace Treaty with Austria, it must be remembered, was relatively recently concluded, and most assiduously gave away to the neighbouring States every important railway centre. A glimpse at the map indicates the astonishing degree to which the frontier has been so manipulated. The effect upon traffic is, of course, lamentable for Austria. To go from Klagenfurth to Graz, a two hours' expross journey, now requires a day. Vienna seems rather better in appearance than in 1925, though the reconstruction of the Palais de Justiee stands as a" grim reminder of the tragedy of 1927, when a crowd I of students and others of Socialistic leanings gathered to protest at the acquittal 'by a biassed jury) of some Austrian Fascists who had shot a child and an ex-soldier by firing upon a party of Socialists with whom they had come into contact in the Bergenland. Poverty and appalling unemployment ! still prevail, and only a Pan-Europa | with a Zollverein can rehabilitate the i wreckage of our post-war madness and its treaties. The state of Hungary is, in

this connexion, lamentable. Only yesterday came news of the severe handling of Jugo-Slavia of the Croat agitators for freedom. They long to go ba;ck to Hungary, or, failing that, to be given autonomy. The 1927 Treaty. "Roumania, who did so little in the war, and who was beaten by this proud people in. the first days of her entry," Dr. Hicks concludes, "has been given Transylvania, while Czechoslovakia haß been given all the Northern mountains and valleys with the Slovaks, with whom Hungary has lived in union for a thousand years. No New Zealander who pays a visit to this land and meets this handsome, courteous, and proud people, could believe until he is shown a map, how great an injustice is done by the Treaty of St. Germain in 1927. Unless, and until, this blunder is righted it is useless to imagine that peace can prevail in Europe. It is the political wirepulling of one, if not two, Great Powers, that is the deus ex machina In this matter. Our Easter visit to Budapest was a rebuke to our ignor-

ance of this country. Mettemisch has much to answer for in this connexion —ho was too ready to refer to Hungary as 'already Asia.' Austria has always maintained that Serbia engineered the assassination of- the Archduke of Austria. In Belgrade last year was erected a statue to the assassin and it was unveiled with pomp and ceremony, only the English Ambassador was conspicuous by his absence."