MR. BALFOUR ON BELGIAN RELIEF

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3175, 28 August 1917, Page 5

MR. BALFOUR ON BELGIAN RELIEF

NEW ZEALAND'S 10s. PER BEAD FOR RELIEF FUND. A message from tho King congratulating the National Committee for Belief in Belgium on their work and recognise the generosity of tho United States Government in undertaking the financial responsibility for the work iros read at the annual meeting of the com- 1 mitteo at tho Mansion House recently. King Albert also telegraphed his-heart-felt thanks for generous help. Mr. Balfour, who was present, referred to Now Zealand's contributions. It was one of the most striking facts in his experience, he said, that a community should subscribe at the rate of nearly 10s. a head for the men, women, and children, of a country removed from them by half the circuit "of the globe, whoso sufferings they might have read about but could not witness. Paying a high tribute to the splendid part of the United States in tho work of relief, Mr. Balfour eaid the only trace of ill-consequence he was aware of amid the infinite advantages of American cooperation was that she conld no longer help the cause in Belgium itself. The work was now being carried on by the Spanish Government. Investigations by impartial tribunals and the evidence of American diplomats—whose tongues were now unloosed by the fact that hostilities had broken out with Germany—had conclusively proved that the frightfulness exercised by the German troops in Belgium was a deliberate frightfulncss. It was never suppressed—it was constantly encouraged, and had a deliberate political purpose in view. "If yon say: 'Cannot you trust German honour, Oerinan promise?' there is tho plain fact of treaties broken, and scornfully broken. If you ask whether in future you can trust this militant and imperialistic Ocrmany to show some regard for humanity, you'havo the example of Belgium stariny you in tho face." The one true remedy for the wrongs of suffennjj Bel-, gium was the defeat of German;.