Greymouth Evening Star. FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1945. MYSTERIES.

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 July 1945, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1945. MYSTERIES.

JJELEGATES to the UNCI.O gathering at San Francisco appear to have spent a fair amount of time in exchanging compliments—or was it mostly legpulling? Those representing New Zealand obtained a due quota of this saying it with flowers —or rvith tongue in cheek. Eveni Mr. Boswell at Moscow was not over-' looked. Mr. Fraser told a Dunedin audience, last evening, that he had been informed of the great impression Mr. Boswell. had made on Anglo-U.S.A. diplomats, and how they valued his “willing co-op-eration.” Just what this was,-is reserved for the information of those in high places. It is gratifying, however, to learn that the people of New Zealand, who have io provide the money for the cost of retaining Mr. Boswell to be at the service of other nationalities, have got him all wrong, and that the mystery behind his prolonged silence is all to his credit. Air. Nash has promised to give Parliament, and therefore the nation, an account of Mr. Boswell’s stewardship. There may be many who can hardly wait. Mysteries are in the news, of late. The secrecy surrounding the Potsdam Conference is annoying Press representatives assembled in the area to cover the historic talks, but it was not to be expected that in the preliminary stages there would be much to divulge to an expectant world. The Russians are mostly blamed for the obscurity maintained. There seems to be something in the air at Moscow making for secrecy. Full information is as desirable as full employment, if world understanding is to be preserved. Meanwhile, tin 1 Japanese, too, have their secret, and Hull is what they are going to do with the Anglo-U.S.A. Forces. The ability to ignore the obvious is a Japanese characteristic, but the aerial and naval bombardments of Japan are stubborn facts that cannot be treated as of little account. Until it is proved otherwise, the reason for the astonishing Japanese passive attitude to Allied blows, must be assumed to be sheer inability to do anything about it. Perhaps, the mysteries in which most people are interested, art* the fate ol Hitler and what will be the penalty inflicted on Goering and other major warcriminals. According to reports, Hitler has died several deaths, suicide, poisoning, shooting and burning all being alleged. Subsequently he has been resurrected and found in areas from Norway to the Antarctic. What is truth? might ask jesting people, and the reply is not yet, one guess being as good as another. The Russians in Berlin are reticent, and no satisfactory official statement has been made to the world which is entitled to it. Perhaps, the truth about Hitler’s end or escape will never be definitely known, to the'joy of novelists and dramatists, whose imagination will find the mystery useful aiuß remunerative. As for the punishment awaiting the chief war criminals, the delay in bringing them to trial makes for leniency. Indigation at their- misdeeds is getting thinner, and comfortable, if dull, exile rather than hanging or shooting, may be the Nazis’ lot. In France and Italy, sterner action has been practised against erring compatriots, and the resumption of the trial of Marshal Petain, shortly, will revive and test public feeling. Britain is acting very circumspectly, and the odds are lengthening against her inflicting extreme or drastic penalties on those who so justly deserve these.