Greymouth Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 1945. PETAIN—AND THE OTHERS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 July 1945, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 1945. PETAIN—AND THE OTHERS.

jpAliIS has replaced Potsdam as the . chief centre of news interest, the trial of ?darshal Petain making good reading compared with the crumbs of information falling from I lie Big Three’s banquet tables. Reference Io Prance makes it courteous to express welcome to the appointment of a French Minister to Ncav Zealand, which office should not be onerous but be as a rest-cure, after a fairly strenuous career, for M. Gazel. Additional gratification will be felt by New Zealanders that the new appointment has not caused Mr. Frasei«to add to this country’s Secret Service by accepting the French Government ’s invitation to appoint a New Zealand /Minister in Paris. Except for possible disappointed candidates, there will be no regret that /Mr. Fraser is doing in France what should have been done in Russia and elsewhere, namely, leaving Britain’s diplomats to safeguard this Dominion’s interests, when any. AFeanwhile. about £20,000 annually will be saved.

The trial of Marshal Petain is a mixture of farce, drama and tragedy. He is the first of the prominent war criminals to be tried, and is probably the one most of the Allied peoples outside France —and large numbers of the French, too, —are least eager to have severely punished. The death sentence is demanded by the prosecution but whatever the verdict and sentence. it is uijlikely that more than comfortable detention will be actually inflicted. Now in his 90th year, Petain is too old to pay adequate penalty for his blunders. Moreover, his military record and the belief that he thought he was being patriotic will lessen French resentment, and widen

Allied indifference. Petain cannot have much longer to live, and so far as he is concerned, the Allies’ purpose will be served by the official condemnation of his collaboration with the Germans. The main interest in his trial will be the disclosures made by those in high French places in 1939-40. It is known that antiBritish / feeling was then prevalent in French army circles, and still exists today. as indeed it always has.

Petain’s trial will arouse inquiries as to when similar proceedings are to be taken against Goering and other Nazi leaders. Week’s glide by, and apart from soothing reports that investigations are being made and evidence collected, nothing is done. Public opinion is not satisfied, and it is to be hoped that further deJays will not be prolonged. There is no doubt about the guilt of most of the accused, and the niceties of ordinary legal procedure should not be rigidly honoured in the very extraordinary circumstances. If the war criminals evade the promised punishment, tremendous injury will be inflicted on international moral values. For instance, what about Laval? There is no sympathy for him, yet. apparently, he can remain safely in Spain, protected by General Franco’s new scruples for international law. Reports also come that remunerative traffic is being permitted by Spain in transporting Nazi and other refugees to that country. Spain is within her legal

rights as a neutral to harbour those wanted by the Allies, but in view of the warnings given by the latter, no country should be permitted to defy the Allies demands.