HOLLANDS NEUTRALITY

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 16, 19 July 1915, Page 7

HOLLANDS NEUTRALITY

POSSIBILITIES OF DANGER FROM GERMANY. INTERVIEW WITH WINSTON CHURCHILL. ROTTERDAM, 17th July. Mr. Winston Churchill, in an interview published in the Nieue Rotterdamsche Courant, but censored in London, said that had the defenders of Antweqi been able to obtain transport along tho Scheldt it need not have fallen, aoid the Belgians would have been able to maintain a position on the Nethe instead of the Yser. Mr. Churchill said :—": — " Holland's neutrality is not one-sided. She now holds Antwerp closed for the Germans. Don't misunderstand me. Had the Netherlands allowed the violation of her neutrality she would have been attacked, and perhaps occupied in great part by the German army. The Allies carefully respected the Netherlands right, a* an independent State, to consider her own interests. The Allies did not ask, nor even hint at, a passage, along the Scheldt. Danger never threatens from our side. " A free Netherlands cannot exist with a German Antwerp. There are possibilities of real danger, because Germany may be forced to attack Holland. Germany ie getting into the position of a wild beast in a cage. It sees the flames coming nearer and nearer, and makes desperate dashes left and right. Forumately, you have a good, brave army, and then your wonderful waterline. "After this war the position of small States will be stronger than ever. The criminal who has thrown himself on little Belgium will stand, after chastisement, as a fearful example." Mr. Churchill added .-—"The Allies .are going to win. The world stands open to us. We can recuperate- and strengthen ourselves as often as necessary. Britain's determination and power grow monthly. Men are streaming in. We are unable to equip them as quickly a* they offer themselves. " Our industrial resources are being thoroughly organised. The production of ammunition will be staggering. Our Fleet continually grows stronger. The Italians have joined. They are fresh. More will follow. " Is it strange that the British are not as strong as the Germans were on the first day? These people prepared themselves for forty years. We had to expand while fighting, and partly to improvise."