Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, JAN 25, 1939. THE COLONIAL ISSUE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 48, 25 January 1939, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, JAN 25, 1939. THE COLONIAL ISSUE.

No problem of greater potential gravity presses its attentions upon the modern world with as much force as the colonial question, yet none is compassed about with more confusing ideas, nor so widely misunderstood. Persistently over a long period Germany has voiced her intentions of demanding what she is pleased to call “satisfaction” on an issue that has been magnified so that to-day it assumes gigantic proportions and is being made a vital factor in European relations. Herr Hitler, who has frequently expressed his intention of seeking a solution of a problem he has in large part built up for himself, is believed to be pondering the matter in preparation for his address to the Reichstag at the end of the month, when it will not be surprising if he requires a “settlement” before joining in plans for European appeasement. On the other hand, opinion hardens against the ceding of territory within the Empire, upon which a firm declaration has been sought from the Government, not altogether without result. Speaking in London recently, Lord Londonderry, the former Minister for Air, who has visited Germany lately, declared Britain’s deter ruination not to “sacrifice one individual or one inch of territory. . . . We will accept with its full implications any challenge to that policy.” Considered dispassionately, and apart from confusing issues, the colonial question resolves itself into comparatively simple factors. The possession of overseas territory for strategical purposes bulks in European considerations to an increasing extent, but claims are being expressed in terms of economic necessity. In reality colonial territories supply a comparatively small proportion ot the world’s raw materials. The League Committee for the Study of the Problem of Raw Materials reported in 1937 that it had reached the conclusion that most raw materials are produced wholly, or to a great extent, in sovereign countries. It is calculated that the total production of all commercially important raw materials in all colonial territories is no more than about 3 per cent, of world production, nor is the share of the colonies in international trade much more important, providing about 0.7 per cent, of exports in 1937 and 8.1 per cent, of imports. Tin is the only

metal of which the major proportion is derived from colonial sources, British Malaya and the Netherlands Indies accounting for over one-half of the world supply, though tungsten and natural phosphate are supplied in the colonies extensively. The fact that the greater proportion of these territories is in the tropics restricts their scope of agricultural production, and only in rubber—at which they supply OS per cent.—are they outstanding. Only 10 per cent, ot the world’s cotton harvest is derived beyond sovereign countries, and coal and iron production in the colonies is of negligible proportions. In any case distance from industrial centres would make transport of such minerals an uneconomic proposition. Petroleum, which is of immense importance in the modern world, is, except for less than 5 per cent, of the total, produced in regions other than the colonies, and copper comes from sovereign countries to the extent of 85 pei cent. Precisely stated, authorities claim, the problem is not one of raw material needs, but economic dislocation, upsetting the previous equilibrium of international supply and demand. This is the point, and to magnify the colonial problem disproportionately is to burke the issue and to fail to achieve an essential solution. The possession of overseas territories for the sake of prestige is another matter altogether.