THE NEAR EAST.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 19 October 1922, Page 8

THE NEAR EAST.

BRITAIN'S ATTITUDE DEFENDED. - GENERAL SMUTS ANSWERS MR. HERTZOG. BY^CABLE— PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT Received Oct. 19,8.55 a.m. CAPETOWN, Oct. 18. At Johannesburg,. replying to a charge by Mr. Hertzog that the British Government appealed to the Dominions oyer the heads of their own Govern-: ments, General Smuts said that he had ; no fault *to find with the attitude of j the British Government. They werej hound to notify the Dominions of what was going on> and did so in a most civil and polite way. They asked for, Union, but did not invite them to do; anything whether they .wished to associate themselves with Britain in case war broke out with Turkey. There was nothing to which exception could be; taken. They went further, and, said that the request was really ad-j dressed to New Zealand and Australia: Iwcause of the great Anzac tradition,1 and he said that communication to1 the1 Union was really pro forma. If Mr.! IJoyd George hact not done what he did he would have failed in his duty' to the Dominions. He was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the Near East question. The British, Government knew his vi%ws on the sub- '' jeot already. General Smuts thought that the British^Government had acted with great firmness and saved, without bloodshed, the Empire and the world from a very grave trouble.— Renter. .