SEEDS OF WAR

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 30 August 1927, Page 9

SEEDS OF WAR

IN THE BALKANS. TREATMENT OF HUNGARIANS. SELE-DETERMIN;ATION URGED.

BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT Received 1.55 p.m. to-day. LONDON, Aug. 29. Czecho-Slovakia constitutes Europe’s powder magazine (says Lord Rothermere, in an article in the Daily Mail), owing to her treatment of a million Hungarians, who are entirely different in race and language from the Czechs. He says that the makers of the peace treaty in 1919 aimed at re-arranging the map of Europe on the basis of selfdetermination. For example, a plebiscite was held in Schleswig, but the creation of the State of Czecho-SloVakia as the result of intense propaganda, was purely an artificial operation, outraging every principle of nationality which it was supposed to serve, and thereby leading to grave abuses, containing the sure seed of future waTS. The government of Gzecho-Slovakia proceeded to exploit the Hungarians, virtually confiscating their property and tolerating some of the worst abuses that had ever occurred in public life in Europe. Czecho-Slovakia must soon take the momentous decision by refusing to retain the compact block of Hungarians against their will and to agree to a revision of the frontier through a plebiscite. Self-interest alone should dictate such a course.

The country’s development largely depends, on foreign financial assistance: Foreign financiers are aware of the country’s internal condition and are not disposed to invest therein. Hungary possesses the right to recoyer its nationals across the border. The present condition of affairs is an outrage. If Europe .continues to close its eyes, it will inevitably result in a disastrous Avar.

Rumania has also appropriated six hundred thousand Hungarians. Greed and oppression of these two States have created two new Alsace-Lorraines, which are nothing less than a festering sore in Europe’s heart. Sydney ‘ ‘ Sun ’ ’ Cable.