COOL AS A CUCUMBER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 31, 6 February 1919, Page 5

COOL AS A CUCUMBER

EXTRAORDINARY LACK OF DISCRETION. BY FINDER OF GERMAN MINE. Another German mine has been found on the beach near Levin, the finder bea young mm named Mudgway (writes the Horowhenua correspondent of the Manawatu Times). 'Mudgway was on the Beach when he noticed, the mine some distance out from the shore. With an extraordinary lack of discretion he secured a rope, waded out as far as he could get, and when the Him man-killer got within reach made fast to-it with a rope. He hauled the mine as far as he could, and as the tide rose he pulled on the rope and brought the mine nearer the shore, when he made fast, and reported his capture. If there are any niepials going for mine capturing, then this young man has a Hood l claim on one. Incidentally, it is sucky for him that this little legacy from the Huns did not explode with all the man-handling it got, otherwise Levin would be holding a funeral, if the re mains could be found, To,„sav6 any trouble, a party of artillerymen came un from Wellington and set the thing off/ BOYCOTT OB INDEMNITY Concluding a series of articles in the Morning Post, Mr Harold Cox asks;— I» it better to maintain an economic boycott against the Germans as a visible and terrible punishment for their crimes ,or to permit them once again to enter the <comity of nations, so that they can earn the means with which to pay an indemnity Frankly, that question is not easy to answer. There is much to be said for the view that a people that has wantonly outraged the recognised code of contemporary civilisation ought to be treated by the rest of ihe world, for a generation at least, as outcasts and pariahs. But in practice this would .'be difficult. ’ In addition to losing- the financial advantages l of an indemnity paid into our Exchequer year by year, we should provide sentimental objection both in Britain and in the United States, and . commercial ■ objections from some of our Allies who are eager to resume trading relatione with Germany at the earliest possible moment. England l is ‘commercially strong enough to dispense with German trade-; Italy is not. Nor is it very easy to surmount the difficulty of the neutral nations who want to trade both with Germany and with her enemies. On the whole, the balance of advantage .probably lies on the side of an indemnity; and we must face th© fact that if the indemnity is to be at all adequate we “.ball have to concede to Germany a very large liberty of trading with the outer (world. Thiei undoubtedly Involves future danger. A strictly boycotted Germany would be a Germany too poor. to be dangerous, but a Germany that is, permitted to trade in order to pay an indemnity will be a Germny on the road', to renewed economic strength, , which at the first convenient opportunity she will certainly use to make another bid for world domination. Therefore, if we abandon the policy of th© boycott in favour of ■ an indemnity, We must, for the sake of future seenrity, apart from all other considerations, insist that the annual indemnity 1 u at> that when it hjjs been paid the Germans have nothing to spend upon fresh military preparations. Even on the most favourable 'calculations what she can physically pay is immensely less than what she morally owes.