THE H.B. TRIBUNE. WEDENESDAY, SEPT. 20, 1922. COUNTERING THE MENACE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 238, 20 September 1922, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. WEDENESDAY, SEPT. 20, 1922. COUNTERING THE MENACE.

The overnight cables give us some London press extracts, one of which at least would have us understand that the appeal made by the Imperial Government to the Dominions, or at least its publication, was premature and something in the nature of a hasty blunder. It is not, however, quite necessary to accept this view, although it may be possible to interpret the action as something in the nature of “bluff.” It can very easily be seen that it would have placed the Western Powers in an entirely false position to have approached discussion with the Turks of a modification of the Sevres Treaty terms under conditions which were in any way suggestive that concessions that might be granted to them were made under fear of consequences arising out of Turkish military successes against the Greeks. It has to be remembered that already the question of variations of the Treaty in favour of Turkey had been considered among the Allied Powers, and material alterations in this direction agreed upon. It would never have done that it should go forth to the world, and particularly to the Mohamedan world, that even these concessions, let alone others that may be decided upon further discussion, had been extorted from reluctant Christendom at the point of the Moslem bayonet. There seems therefore to be very good justification of at least a demonstration which would put the basis of negotiation on an even footing unaffected by the outcome of recent events. Thus Labour leaders, whether in the Old Country or in this, are doing no good service to either their own country or to the peace of the world when they indicate that they may take steps to paralyse the sword-arm of Christianity. Mr. Holland professes to have some inside knowledge about the strength of the Kemalist forces, and speaks of them contemptuously as “only a handful of men who could not hurt any one.” This is rather a strange saying with regard to the army that has swept the very substantial forces of Constantine before it like chaff before the wind, bringing in its wake wholesale destruction of civilian life and property. It would have been much nearer the mark had he said that opposed to these victorious and pro. bably fanatically inspired forces there stands on this present (fay but a mere handful of Allied troops, principally British, who are in no small danger of being overwhelmed and blotted out were not some definite intimation given that just vengeance would soon follow. The leader of Official Labour thinks nothing, either, of the millions of Christian lives that are still at the mercy of an inflamed Moslem majority throughout the whole of Western Asia, to say nothing of India. Nor, apparently, can Mr. Holland imagine his Bolshevist friends as doing anything to create or perpetuate strife. Their undoubted record, however, falsifies his conception, and, while conditions might prevent them from doing very great harm in Europe, they might very easily make much mischief and bring disaster in Asia. Trotsky’s sole hope of maintaining his place lies in maintaining also his army, and this he cannot do very well without finding employment for it.

Whatever may be said of the Turkish military strength, there can be no doubt whatever that Russia has a formidable army ready for action at any moment, and that this army has been kept well fed, well clothed, and well equipped, while the other tens of millions of Lenin’s dupes have been thrown starving and naked on the mercy of foreign philanthropy, to which even we away out here are begged to contribute. To us there appears to have been sound warrant for a display of readiness to use force against definitely threatening force. Mr. Holland’s pious suggestion to leave everything to a League of Nations for which the potential enemy has no regard whatever is the very essence of futility in such an emergency. The more impressive the demonstration is made the more likely is it to have the desired effect of averting actual hostilities.