The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1916.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 4157, 7 February 1916, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1916.

Tlie destruction, clearly at the hands

The Hun Outrage at Ottawa.

of Hun conspirators, of the magnificent Federal Houses of

Parliament at Ottawa, is an outrage which should awaken the people of the Overseas Dominions, as well as the people of the United States, to the danger of too little care being taken to prevent occurrences of the kind. As in the case of all other damage that has been perpetrated under the well-planned plots of the apostles of “Kultur,” the fact that at least some non-combatants, including women, would bo murdered, was left out of all consideration by those who were the authors of this dreadful crime, .for it must have been known to them that these. buildings would be crowded at the hour that was selected for the wicked happening to take place. It is certainly impossible to believe that this particular plot ■was hatched amongst, a few Hun sympathisers in the Canadian capital. Not one person in a million can, we think, .come' to any conclusion other than that the evil design was planned in Washington—and in the official chambers of the German diplomatic corps for the United States. But after -what had previously transpired both in the United States and in Canada, increasing activity on the ’•part of Hun sympathisers could not occasion any surprise. The advertisements that were inserted on behalf of the German Embassy in the New York press prior to the sailing of the Lusitania were, we feel, quite damning enough evidence as to the evil intentions of the enemy forces outside Germany. Seemingly it is the position that the Huns are taking fine care to have just as expert leaders outside Germany as are to be found within, her own borders, for, quite apart from the circumstances.

surrounding tlie Lusitania incident,” piles of evidence has accumulated to show that the Huns intend, among - other things, not only to try and prevent the United States from shipping munitions to the Allies, but also to prevent both the United States and Canada from even manufacturing munitions. Nobody, we should say, can, surely, have thus early forgotten, for instance, that a great deal of incriminating evidence to this effect was found among the, papers which the notorious Von Parpen attempted to take back with him to Germany but which were intercepted by the British authorities? In the case of Canada it is known that, ever since the outbreak of the war, steps have been taken to guard important railroads, bridges, and factories, and a similar course of action, it is believed, has, latterly, been adopted in the United States. Dr. Wilson himself, in his latest address to Congress, went as far as it was possible—without inviting Germany and Austria to break off diplomatic negotiations with the United States to indicate to the nation over which he presides that the Hun element in that country was a distinct and very grave menace. This, it will be remembered, was what he said—

“There are citizens of the United States, horn under other flogs, who have poured poison and disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life, and who have sought to bring the authority and good name of our Government into contempt, to debase our policies to the uses of foreign intrigue. “They have formed plots to destroy property, they have entered into conspiracies against the neutrality of the Government, and they have sought to pry into every confidential transaction of the Government in order to serve interests alien to our own.

“Such creatures of, passion, disloyalty and anarchy must be crushed out. The ugly and incredible thing actually has come about, and we are without adequate Federal laws to deal with it. I urge you to enact such laws at the earliest possible moment, and I feel that, in doing so, I am urging you to do nothing less than to save the honor and self-respect of the nation.”

The most amazing part of the whole business is, of course, that the United States Government still tolerates Count Bernstorff—the arch-Hun outside Germany—to remain in that country. Dr. Wilson and his colleagues must know, too, that Captain Boy-Ed, in clearing out to Mexico when he should have been deported, is now on a mission which will resultin no good to the United States. What might now be asked, in view of the diabolical outrage which has just been committed in Canada, is whether sufficient precautions have already been taken to prevent Hun outrages in Australia and New Zealand ? As far as this Dominion is concerned, it is, of course, common 'knowledge that some hundreds of unnaturalised enemy subjects have been safely interned. But now is the time, before it may be too late, for the authorities to have another clean up, seeing that additional dangerous residents . may still be at large. It would, also, be very satisfactory to learn that the Government intend to act, without further delay, in tne direction of reviewing, with a view to making them more drastic, the safeguards which are in force to prevent undesirable aliens from entering this Dominion.