THE GERMAN MUTINY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17614, 19 October 1917, Page 4

THE GERMAN MUTINY.

The account given by a-German naval lieutenant to tho New York "Sun" of the mutiny at .Wilhelmshaven deals almost exclusively with the course of the episcdo without entering at any length into its causes. The lieutenant morely says that the mutiny was only one expression of the general discontent in the German navy, and he leaves it. at that. Obviously a man who claims to have played a prominent part, or, indeed, any part in th 0 affair, should have somo knowledge of its origin. In ono passage he implies that the inspiration came from outside tho navy, and that agitators were sent to The naval bases to work among tho sailors. If that is tho easo it is difficult to understand why nothing was-done in the army, sine© tho army offered a mush wider field for agitation, while its system of organisation would appear to lend itself to quiet . and effective propaganda. We do not know what movements have occurred, of course, for the authorities naturally prohibit the publication of reports of disturbances in the military forces, and no reference would have been made publicly to the naval mutiny if it had not. assumed such large proportions. In the absence of more definite information it can only be assumed that the Wilhelmshaven affair was duo directly to causes affecting the morale Of tho fleet—harsh discipline, bad and insufficient food, inactivity and the like —causes which did not operate with tbp samo force in tho cas c of tho army. For tho general causes of the troublo we can safely look, of course, to the conditions prevailing in Germany. There -was a brief report in a cable message recently of a speech by Herr Gotheim, leader of the Progressive People's Party in the Reichstag, but the most interesting portion of it was ! not transmitted beyond Australia. " Too long hours of work and insufficient food in tho industrial ho said, '•' are increasing the desire for psace in labour circles, and there is a fear of strikes if the war continues for the purposes of aggrandisement. . The harvest is suffering for lack of manure and animal and human labour. Tho shortage of coal is likely to result in a great stoppage of factories and a far-reaching reduction of railway traffic is inevitable. The supply of raw material for the army is assured, but the supply of leather and textiles for civilians i 3 doubtful. The bad food is increasing the death and sickness rates, and the birth-rato is falling." ' There is no reason to doubt that thi3 is a moderate picture of the actual conditions. Wo hav c abundant evidence to show that fear of another winter of war conditions is oppressing the whole German people, and it is impossible that that fear should not be communicated to the army. But there is an obvious danger in building large hopes on an episode liko the naval revolt, while we know so little of the im- | mediate causes. We should bo glad to believe that it is symptomatic of the condition of the German forces, but the safe course is to regard it as evidence of breaking moralo rather than of broken morale. The German spirit of resistance endures, but it is weakening.