GERMANS IN AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16026, 18 September 1915, Page 8

GERMANS IN AUSTRALIA.

POLITICIANS' PROTESTS.

'TOO MUCH KID GLOVE."

SALE OF GERMAN GOODS.

In speaking at a large public meeting under the auspices of the Anti-German League, at Sydney recently. Sir Jospeh Carruthers stated that there was too much of the kid glove method in dealing with Germans in Australia.

We were, said Sir Joseph, fighting the Germans not only on the battlefields of Europe, but in every country. He would not go so far as to describe every German in the Commonwealth as a traitor to Australia, but he was against taking any risks. If we gave all of them chances some of them would do us serious damage. It was not a fair thing, whilst Australian children were at the front, to have Germans here filling positions of trust and responsibility in the Public Service. No one could say such a state of affairs existed in Germany. All British subjects there were behind bars when not working for the Kaiser.

| 'I would side by the man," he said, " who is firing at us rather than with the one who sneaks behind and tries to slime us over as if he were our kith amd kin. Some Germans here may or may not have rifles. But, if I were living in Germany, with a rifle in my hand, I would ' pot the Kaiser* myself and take the consequences." (Applause.) "What are we doing?" the speaker asked. "We have Germans at our barracks and in our defence forces. We have them contracting for the Defence Department. We see our own New South Wales Government giving renewals of licenses to them as publicans. We have a pureblooded Prussian in a certain Commonwealth department. "It would surprise the commercial life of Australia to know who were members of the German Cluba club of which the Consul, nominated by the Kaiser, had to be the president. If Germany should win this war, and Germans got a foothold here, many already here who were pretending to be good Australians would be the first to rush out to shake the hand of the German Army aommandant. (Applause.) Why had recruiting fallen off? Because young men were _ saying 'I am not going to give up mv billet to have it taken by a German.' (Renewed applause.)

No Dealing in Enemy Goods. Mr. W. H. Kelly. M.P., referred to what he termed a "veritable conspiracy" among some people in Australia to keep the goodwill for Prussian goods. He stated that, according to information in the possession of the Federal Attorney-General, enemy ! goods were still among the best advertised in the Sydney papers. He gave examples of how Dottles were " prepared" to deceive people into believing that the contents were "made in England." Goods were, he said, coming in from America, where they were manufactured at Germanowned factories. All such goods as these should be confiscated, because any commercial profit to Germany only meant more bullets against our boys. (Applause.) We should not only prohibit the importation of enemy trading goods, but should also institute a vigorous search of our trade marks to see who was responsible for allowing one label to be pasted over with another one, the clear intention being to deceive the public. (Applause.) He moved, " That from now out, and until five years after the war, this meeting of Australian citizens declares that it will have no dealing with any enemy goods whatever." JThe motion was carried with enthusiasm.

Reply by a Minister. In replying to the remarks made at the league's meeting, Mr. D. R. Hall, New South Wales Attorney-General, said that he had had a scrutiny made of a proportion of the 18,000 Australian soldiers who had already been killed or wounded in the campaign up to early in July. Of these there were 500 whose names indicated clearly their German ancestry. Men of the name of Schmidt, Schwartzkopf, von Stieglitz, Pfeifcjr, and Funkenstein had fallen fighting at the front side by side with those bearing Anglo-Saxon names. Assuming that the proportion in the 120,000 of our men still at the front uninjured or in training was the same as among those who had fallen, it would mean that probably 3000 of our soldiers were descended from a Teutonic ancestor on the father's side. This excluded that very large number of names which were common to both the English and the German races. ° No citizen in Australia, said Mr. Hall, was entitled to be victimised in any wav because he had a German name, had German parents, or was of German origin. He was to be judged by his words, and his deeds, and not by his ancestry or his ac ® of birth. As to that section of the German people who were not naturalised, many of them were at present allowed _ on parole conditional on their reporting themselves to the police. 'i his system was satisfactory to the military, as it was to all reasonably-minded citizens. The attitude of the Government was perfectly plain- To the naturalised Germans in our midst they said, " Do nothing to forfeit the rights of citizenship conferred upon you, and all those rights will be protected to you. You will find your naturalisation certificate is something more than a 'scrap of paper.' " To those who were not naturalised they said, " Keep our refrain from any work or any action which might possibly prejudice our country in the prosecution of its campaign, and the Government will, in accordance with the convention of all civilised countries, protect your life and your property."