NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 97, 18 January 1921, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

France is afraid that the fruits of victory are eluding her, and that what the armies gained the diplomats are allowing to slip through their fingers. It is not easy for other nations to appreciate the French point of view. Britain lost much blood and treasure in the war, but her security was never endangered nor her territory overrun, noi doos she have to dwell side by side with a nation which for forty years has recognised nothing but force- M. Briand, who now becomes Premier of France for the fourth time, is a man of determination and strong character. He .has more than once indicated that he thinks the Peace of Versailles a weak peace for France, and he can bo relied upon to oppose further weakening of it by gratuitous concessions to Germany. In a speech in the French Chamber in June last he declared that France wanted her place in the sun. She need not oo ashamed of being the most tired nation in Europe, for she had bled in the service of the whole world. What had she obtained as the result of her efforts? Great Britain’s destinies were on the seas, and Britain saw to it that when the peace was signed there was no longer a German Navy to challenge her. What happened in the war on land? The German Army was allowed by victorious France, though she held it in terrible pincers, to withdraw with its bands playing. It was fine, it was great! But was a nation justified in being humane and generous, in sacrificing its security, when dealing with a country that respected only brute force? M. Briand throughout his career has combined his tenacity with breadth of vision. He is determined that France shall receive real things from Germany, and not be fobbed off with valueless promises, lie does not aspire to play the part of a merciless executioner, but under him Franco will make no one-sided concessions. “Our good peasants,” he declare/, “when they are settling their bargains in the markets take good care not to give before they receive.” It is in this spirit that M. Briand may be expected to approach the conference table

That the revolutionary extremists are active, but that the bulk of genuine trades unionists have no use for them, is the gist -of Dr. Arthur Shadwell’s survey of industrial conditions in Britain. Bolshevik stock has fallen heavily there and on the Continent, and the same is true of New Zealand and most other countries. The chief danger is that the revolutionary minority are taking advantage of the apathy of trades unionists generally to worm their way into executive spokesmen, and are able to voice their blood and thunder bombast as .official positions of Labour. The ideal of the bulk of the trades unionists is, we take it, to preserve all that is best in our existing civilisation, and add something better, to it. The ideal of the wild n-en is to smash everything, goed, bad, and indifferent, and construct ou the ruins a particular sort of hell to their own specifications. Unless trades unionism is to bo pushed along the path that leads to the collapse of industry, with its accompanying misery, it will only be by the majority of the workers asserting themselves and no longer tolerating misrepresentation by a blatant minority. M. Bviand, the now Premier of France,, is a man of the people. Words which he addressed recently to the French Socialists are everywhere much to the point: "You say that you represent the Labour world. But to-morrow your working cours. your wages, all other questions which interest your class will be influenced by the strength of your country. If eae Is weak, your labour will be unhappy. If she is strong, your labour will be free." That is as true of New Zealand as of France.

New Zealand has reason to bo proud of the way it has treated its returned soldiers, and the figure® quoted by Mr. Guthrie give still more reason for pride in the way the returned men have taken up their responsibilities under the Re patriation Act. The men can obtain up io £3OO on loan to establish themselver in business, the first -C5O being free of interest and the balance at 5 per cent. The demand for assistance is now gradually slackening off, and is about half what it was in December, 1919. At the same time repayments are steadily coming in, and the total collections to date amount to the handsome sum of .£376,542, the average per month of late running at £35,000. In the Department’s'annual report it was stated out of 12,267 soldiers assisted up to that time less than 5 per cent, were in arrear with their payments. About a million and a half has been lent to date, and present repayments are at the rate of well over .£400,000 per annum. This speaks excellently both for the men themselves and for the administrative work iu the Ropatriation Office.

While it may be true that war at sea will always be decided by a fleet action as some strategists argue, the late war demonstrated that big ships are useless in protecting a mercantile marine against submarine attack. The war finished before any effective remedy was found for the submarine, though it was much harried by the enormous flotillas of patrol craft armed with depth charges and equipped with hydrophones, and the elaborate convoy system reduced its opportunities of attack. It is claimed 1 that the Germans have invented a new type of armoured submarine proof against depth charges, and able to face torpedoes. If this is so, the problem of protecting a vast mercantile marine will become still more difficult. The most effective reply would be a submersible merchant vessel, but this is a measure to which no nation would resort save when in desperate straits in a war. The British “K” class submarines ’built during the latter stages of the war had a displacement almost equal to that of a light cruiser, and a still later type appeared armed with a twelve-inch gun. With the development of aerial and under-water attack only an expert can venture to guess what the navies of the future will be like—and the experts who really count are seldom communicative in advance about their guesses.