North Otago Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1908. A MESSENGER OF PEACE.

North Otago Times, 22 September 1908, Page 2

North Otago Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1908. A MESSENGER OF PEACE.

Prince Von Hulow, who represents nation, lias to make jjcriodical speeches as a countervailing force to those made by his Imperial Master, the Kaiser. To those who understand the peculiar infirmity of tin Kaiser there is nothing out of the way 111 his occasional extraordinary romarks. The Kaiser suffers from an illness in the ear that brings on occasional fits of aberration, and at Ihcso times ho gives utterance to the most fantastic views 011 general politics, himself, and army and navy, Tim Gorman newspaper man always reports those peculiarities 0 f the Kaiser, und they arc cabled to tho colonies. Why tho German newspapers should report them is possibly to be explained by tho fact that they aro told to do so, and though lese majestie would not stare them in the face for disobedience they evidently feol under an obligation to lot the world know that " the Kaiser is off again/' and to lake no particular notico of Vliat ho says. Only recently tho Kaiser carried out somo army manoeuvres in Alsace-Lorraine, tho two provinces taken from the French in the war of 1870. In . these manoeuvres 80,000 men were engaged, and the affair gave so much umbrage to the Fronch that they immediately summoned 125,000 men to carry out manoeuvres in close proximity to tho Germans. The Kaiser gave a reason for the army manoeuvres, and the cable crowned it with the assertion that tho Kaiser led both sides—sometimes tho Bod and sometimes tho Bluo -and whichever side he led always won; that is, tlio spectators would be. treated'to tho spectacle'of both' sides winning, not necessarily at tho same time,' but on' different"' (lays during the progress of the manoeuvre. It is hardly necessary to stalo that the Kaiser could not lead'both sides 1 in actual warfare, but his object in I theso displays was to show his | generals—who aro amongst the finest in tho world-how tho .thing should be dene.. This was the Kaiser's, mimic' jvai'fnro; and now I'rinco \ r on Jiulow has to take occasion to let the world know that German public opinion is ijot influenced by these oddities of tho Kniser, 'but that s)io is. as desirous for' peace as any country could be., As we snid,,Princo Von Jiulow represents the level-headodness of . the German nation; and his wttorances have mor 8 value as the sentiments of the nation than those r of the Kaiser, who, as wo said, is sometimes hardly responsible for what ho says and docs. The Kaisar moans well, and so lav Ims dono 110 particular harm, although his■ impulsiveiutterances- and . telegrams havo occasionally made Europe Bit bolt upright witli a- gasp, Prince voij ,Bulow steps in after' these fumnrolic explosion?,-.. ■. apd sets;, the world ■ ■ rightas ?: to ; Germany's ■ intern

lions Only 'the 11 other daywMoiocco loomed laigely in the sphere 'of 'the politics that gave Europe concern, brought about by»Dr Vessel's'trip to Fez, patently for the purposo of letting Muloi Hafid know that the (rjrman Codhn vras his friend and not the French Short The inference is that Di top Was made- at the instigation of tho Kaiser, and it had the effect of setting Europe by the ears for iome little time Theie (annot be any doubt that the action of Germany stiengthened Mulai Hafid's position He was the winning horse in tiio Moorish raco for.a Sultan, and Germany's action hurried France niid Spain into agreeing to : his accession as soon ar, he had' given tho necessary guarantees, etc.■■■; There was no reason why France and.Spain,who have partial control of the country, should have agreed to the accession of Mulai Hnfid, but German action hail the effect of - forcing their hand, as Abdul Aziz was .hopelessly beaten. ■

•■■.:'. CONSCRIPTION!'Although Sir Joseph Ward gives thb namfl of ■' conscription " to the recont proposal of the Farmors' Union Con- ' ferenco that ovcry atizon of the Dominion between cortain ages should ho trained in the use of tho riflo and in the arts of war, it need not bo taken for granted that the suggestion of the i oonference wa6 all that. Sir Joseph implied it was. Tho motion passed by tho Farmers' Union Conference was that the universal training of young mon in the arts of war'be instituted in the Dominioa, and Sir Joseph Ward's reply to tkose that waited upon him aa a deputation was that tlto country was not ripe for universal training; it waa absolutely out of the question; they had to .try and better thoir volnatear' system, and build up strong ril» corps from ond to ' end of Hew Zealand. Theso be bravo words, my masters. And now let us sea how the volunteer system k being improved, a«d strong riflo corps established from end to end of the Dominion. A few years ago the numbor of volunteers in tho Dominion was 20,000; to-day it is between 13,000 ami 11,000, and is growing smaller by degroes and. beautifully less, Some years ago tho Government instituted a Council of Defence, the members' whereof are considerably of the amateur variety, but notwithstanding this they may be quite capable of carrying out theii\ duties. Bet this as it may, volunteering is on the wane, ami it threatens to como down to ai regiment) of officers, the remnant of the gallant 20,000 who were prepared to do duty for their country bofore Sir Joseph Ward discovered that the country was not ripo for conscription, and that wo would have to do something to encourage volunteering and build up strong rifle corps! It is because wo are doing neither the ono thing nor the other that the Farmers' Union has taken the matter up, and urged it upon the consideration of tho Government. And here it might bluntly be asked, What is the game ? It is as plain as the noses on the Ministerial faces that volunteering is dying out in Now Zealand, and not by inches but by yards, and for what reason is it tlint Ministers will do nothing to give it a fillip ?_ The only fillip it gets is an occasional reminder that the Dominion ut not ripe for conscription i But that won't keep volunteering on its feet.. The question may be asked why, if volunteering was so popular a few years ago, it i& low so unpopular? There ■ must bo somo reason for its rapid decay. One company has gone out of existence in Oamaru, and the others are slowly fading away to tht land of forgotfu'lness. In other places the same thing is occurring. Then must bo some reason for this. If thorofore tho Government will »at lenicdy an apparent defect in th» aystem it dovolvos on the people's reprisentativcs, such as the delegates to the conference of farmers' unions, U nrge that universaltraining lw instituted. Australasia has praotfoally gone to war with Japan and China' by Bhutting their peoples out, and some day we shall have to opoa our doors to these nations, or %ht (km for possession. Thai Is inovilable. Wei have invited the contest, and yti w« are prepared to «i down end ai!«w oar enemies to inn onr us. Bupporing a heavy poll tax wew put o* Britishers visiting Japan or China wanld we not resent it, and would in tot allow our imaginations t« iany os along to the timo when we wosM be able to crush the Japanese anil Chinese and their poll ta.t too. TBI Japanese and Chinese are but humai, and some day ;n th«ir wight they will test tho streugtt of onr determination to erect a poll-tax barrier against them. And yet Sir Joseph Ward says the country is not ripo for universal training. If it is not (ipe for this it is obviously rotten past redemption for volunteering.