PORTUGAL AND TIMOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14927, 27 February 1912, Page 6

PORTUGAL AND TIMOR.

The possession by any Power of territory in- which she is unable to maintain some semblance of order is rapidly becoming impossible, partly because of the increasing influence of commercial interests and partly because the stronger nations are establishing the principle that the maintenance of order is a condition of authority. Whether, they are wholly sincere in their assertion of this principle need not be discussed, for the fact remains that it has led to the stripping of Spain and Turkey, and that it may possibly result in the final extinction of the once mighty Portuguese Empire, leaving Portugal as bare of colonies as Switzerland or Servia. For it is generally understood that Germany would be unhesitatingly ready to relieve the new Republican Administration at Lisbon of all colonial responsibilities, and would pay handsomely into the bargain. Portugal, however, appears loth to relinquish the remnant of her past glory, and must therefore display her ability to police her possessions or expose herself to the possibility, of a forced sale. As the Portuguese possession of Timor is in proximity to Australia it is a matter of considerable importance to the Commonwealth and, incidentally, to New Zealand, that German territorial expansion should not be made easy in'that quarter. Consequently, .the suppression of the Timor revolt— which was accompanied by anarchic symptoms— a matter for congratulation, as it removes an occasion for German intervention which might not have been wholly unreasonable.