THE GERMAN COLONIES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17878, 26 August 1918, Page 4

THE GERMAN COLONIES.

There j. s not a shadow of doubt that colonial opinion is with Mr Massey in his declaration concerning the Gorman colonies. In this part of tho world wo are particularly interested in the fate of the Pacific islands that wore formerly under German rule, and if Australasian opinion goes for anything they will never be (returned. The feeling of British colonists is not due to greed .or covetousness. They have had a losson in German methods, and they are determined simply that, so far as the Pacific is concerned, Germany must not again bo permitted to organise naval bases or to establish wireless stations that would bo useful if at any time she thought fit to disturb the peace of the world. Tho Germans are not desirable as neighbours, and tho British dominions have a right to ask that they shall be relieved of anxiety in regrrd to the Pacific in the future. Both Japan and the United States are interested in the same problem, though not eo intimately as Australia and New Zealand, and wo believe that there ought to bo an interchange of views, not necessarily officially, to prepare tho way for an Allied declaration permanently excluding Germany from territorial acquisitions in the Pacific. In precisely tho same way British South Africa is concerned with the fate of Gorman South-West Africa, and, less intimately, with that of East Africa. The former enemy colonies of tropical Africa ought not to be treated as pawns in the settlement, for the issues aro far too momentous to be decided in that way. Germany has -to be judged on her record, and the nations of tho world aTO entitled to say that her opportunities of aggression in the future shall be rigidly restricted. She lias no natural rights to African territory, and tho sole question for decision is whether tho restoration of her lost African possessions would make for the good government and the peace of tho world. Her record is all against her in these respects. She was a brutal ruler of native races, using them solely for her own profit, and there is not a shadow of doubt in any impartial mind that if she were permitted to resume control of some millions of African natives sho would straightway commence to organise them into a vast army of aggression. The welfare of the natives themselves never entered into her calculations, and there is nothing in the | history of her colonies to suggest that j in the future sho would he likely to consider tho natural rights of the subject races. When Mr Balfour declared against tho restoration, of the colonies to Germany lie was dealing with the broad issues involved in German principles and methods of government, and was advancing no claim on behalf of Britain. A hundred years ago the fact of conquest would have 'determined possesion, but a different spirit animate civilised peoples to-day, and the future government of territories will be arranged in tho interests of their peoples and for tho welfare of tho world.