THE GERMAN ELECTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13397, 28 January 1907, Page 4

THE GERMAN ELECTIONS.

The severe reverse reported to have been sustained.by the Socialists in the German elections is of the deepest significance in international politics, the more so as for thirty years the voting strength of that party has been steadily increasing, and it was very recently rnmoured that the Government had little hopes of victory at the polls. It would seem that when it came to the question the Germans rallied in support of the foreign policy of the Kaiser and refused to countenance the attack made by the Socialist leaders upon the Empire-building plans hat have proved so costly to the Government of Berlin. The deduction necessarily is that Ihe ambitious schemes of the Kaiser, which have in view the acquisition of great colonial possessions as a field for German energy, are generally approved by the German people. Since the British Empire stands in the path of these ambitious schemes, and. in spile of diplomatic denials, is notoriously marked for German attack when the opportunity serves, the issue of the German elections is a grim warning to us. If Britain and her colonies are wise it will spur them on to make adequate preparation for a trial of strength which cannot be long postponed and of which the penalty of defeat will be greater by a hundredfold than the cost of efficient defence.