GERMANY AMD HER COLONIES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 25, 31 January 1911, Page 11

GERMANY AMD HER COLONIES.

A STATEMENT OF POLICY. THE TEARS OF SAMOA. (From Our Own Correspondent). LONDON. 16th December. "The overwhelming majority of the nation is now absolutely convinced that they must have .colonies, and for that wo must primarily thank the first Colonial Secretary." This is a portion of the handsome oulogy of h'S prodeoesor, Horr yon Uernburg, with which the German Colonial Secretary (Herr yon Lindequist) introduced his statement fcr the year in the Reichstag. He said that in all the colonies progress wa3 being made, and ho based his hope that it would be lasting on tho lively interest of the German people. They know to-day that their oversea possessions were a valuable market for German, goods, with their, icceptivity increasing from year to year. They wore at the same time a promising source of raw materials. In view of tho cotcon famine, which was eve* becoming more serious, in view of the need for wool, which was over increasing, who could doubt that it was absolutely vital for important branches of their industry, and especially for tho textile industry, that they should dorive their raw materials from the colonies, and become moro and more independent of foreign speculations and attempts to create monopolies, which wero beyond their control. Tho fiscal conditions of the Protectorates had improved considerably, and it was estimated that their proper revenue would increase in tho coining year' by £360,000. In tho four years from 1908 the increase would be £1,000,000, of which a portion was, however, due to tho discovery of diamonds in South West Africa. Simultaneously tho subsidies paid to the colonies by uhe Imperial Treasury would have doclined by £1,100,000 annually. In the year 1910, the aggregate trado of the colonies had increased in value from £6,750,000 to £8,750,000, though a portion of this again was due to the diamonds. The results of the new colonial railways had in goneral satisfied expectations, and in some instances exceeded thtun. So much progress had been made with the Kilimandjaro line that the traffic was now independent of tho English Uganda Rail' way. In order to stimulate the production of the soil, further experimental farms would be established, and the governors would be given the benefit of the counsels of agricultural experts. He was deeply convinced that they must treat the natives humanely and justly, not merely because they needed this priceless human materinl for the exploitation of thoir colonies, but also for a more lofty ideal and othical rea•sona. At the same time they must not forget that excessive mildness and gentleness in the wrong place might be taken for weakness.

THE GOVERNMENT OF SAMOA. Replying to criticism, Herr yon Lindequist said: "I assume that my activity in regard to Gorman South- West Africa and British South Africa affords a sufficient guarantee that I shall pursue only an absolutely national German colonial policy. I am proud of the confidence reposed in mo by Germany in British South Africa during the Boer War, which was 0. vorj heavy period for German interests. I shall treat foreigners in our colonies in a friendly manner, ju«t as we see that Germans are well treated abroad. In British South Africa and in British Nyasaland, I have myself seen much to excite my admiration, but we must be careful not to copy slavishly what we sco in foreign colonies, but to select what is useful to ourselves." Referring to the charge brought against the Governor of Samoa that he had been a poor representative of German interests in Samoa, Herr yon Lindequist declared that the Governor had carried out his duties for ton years in the interest of Germany and German institutions. Tho English language was no longer allowed in the island, and the natives now used German in preference to it. "Two men of the past — Robert Louis Stevenson and 'King Diok' ' Soddon— would have been indignant," says tho Chronicle, "if they had lived to read tho telegram about the abolition ot the English language in Samoa. Stevenson, who spent tho last years of his life there, was a strong opponent of German aggression, and lent 1 both mental and material aid to Mataafa, the Samoan warrior who onco annihilated a German force. Mr. Seddon's dream of a South Pacific British federation was shatterod when the late Lord Salisbury, in tho last of his international deals, consented to the division of Samoa between Germany and the United States. 'King Dick's 1 language about Lord Salisbury is unprintable."