MINES AND NEUTRALS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15768, 17 November 1914, Page 6

MINES AND NEUTRALS.

No Objection can be made to the protest of neutrals against the adoption of measures inimical to the commerce of neutral countries. •What we may fairly object to, however, is the withholding of such protest until extraordinary measures" are forced upon a reluctant belligerent by an unscrupulous enemy. Norway, Sweden, and Holland did not protest to Germany against her criminal minelaying in the North Sea, although each of these countries lost vessels by. German mines laid in contravention of Hague agreements signed by Germany. They protest only when Britain takes protective action which has the effect of closing the North Sea. Certainly their protest goes to Berlin as to London, and to this extent is impartial. Behind the protest may be an intention to claim damages for interrupted commerce after the war, and its delay may be due to the timidity of little states which feared to make any complaint affecting Germany alone while that militant country was in the flush of her arrogance , and self-confidence. There may, therefore, be, even in this expression of opinion, some sign of a reviving sense of security in the minor powers of North Europe. The United States, it is to be noticed, refused to join in the protest, and this may be taken as indicative of the American attitude of non-inter-Having taken no official notice of German mine-laying, it would be impossible for a great government like that of Washington to join subsequently with the small states affected by the closing of the North Sea. It is quite possible, however, that we have not yet heard the last of this new German fashion of fighting with floating mines, for if it extends to the oceans, other nations may be compelled, in spite of their cautions, to assert and enforce their rights.