NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17097, 28 February 1919, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

PRUSSIAN POLAND'S CHOICE.

At the opening of tho Provisional Provincial Diet at Poscn, which will act until the union of Poland is definitely achieved, M. Ladislas Seyda, of the Polish Parliamentary Party in Berlin, declared that the reconstructed and united Poland would be democratic, and would respect all political opinions, as well as all religious confessions. The Polish nation, he added, had ranged itself on the side of the Allies, as the Polish Army in France, under the Polish National Committee in Paris, bore witness. This army had been recognised by the Allied Powers as an allied and cobelligerent army. Thus the Polish nation, represented before the Entente by the said Polish National Committee would have, at the Peace Conference, a voice liko that of other nations. The Diet passed a resolution demanding categorically that all Polish territories inhabited for centuries by Poles, should be reunited, and that the crime of the partitions bo thus righted. Tho Diet is composed of representatives elected by the Polish population in all districts in the Polish provinces of Prussia. M. Nowicke, a workman delegate from tho city of Posen, was elected President.

THE BELGIAN INDEMNITY. The Bill dealing with reparation for damago sustained in the war, introduced by the Belgian Government, limits the application of the Bill in question to Belgians, and to material damage, excluding moral damage. The amount of indemnity is calculated on the value of the property destroyed, as from the beginning of tho war, or from the time of its acquisition during the war. The question is being considered, first, of compensation for damages resulting from loss of life, wounds, and illness, as well as deprivation of liberty for political offences; secondly, of a Bill for indemnification for loss of revenues and the suspension of work; and, thirdly, of legislation dealing with the assistance which the State may give to em ployers and workmen with a view to en abling a resumption of work to be made. FUTURE OF LUXEMBURG. The address of the Belgian Senate in reply to the Speech from the Throne, after paying a tribute to the heroism of the Army and the Allies, continues:--" Belgium, freed from her fetters, aspires to a new order giving her the satisfaction due to her past and proportionate to her sacrifices and services. More than ever her thoughts are turned to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, separated from her against the will of the population and in violation of rights dating back a thousand years. Belgium will be able to lend the Grand Duchy the fraternal assistance necessary for its definite liberation from foreign exploitation, thanks to a rapprochement to which it has freely consented." King Albert, m a reply to a letter from Luxemburgers resident in Brussels, says that he hopes that the new era will draw still closer the bonds of affection and long community of life which havo never ceased to attach tho free people of Luxemburg to Belgium. AMERICAN PEACE VIEWS. That all Americans do not share Mr. Wilson's views on the peace terms is shewn by the proposals of the National Committee of Patriotic Societies with a total membership of 2,500,000 educated men and women. The terms are divided into three categories. The first deals with " restitution aifd reparation," the second with territorial and the third with general questions. In the first, after the clauses covering full restitution and reparation the following demand is formulated :— " The Central Powers to bear the cost of the war to the Allies— war debts of Belgium, France and Servia to be paid first. The application of tho public and private resources of the Central Powers to such payments, and the control of the finances of the Central Powers until all such restitution and reparation are carried out." The general terms include the following :—" Punishment not only of tho ex-Kaiser but of the others responsible for the war and for violations of the Hatne Conventions. International arbitration and a League of Nations as a complement of tho policy of national defence. The Central Powers not to be admitted into the League until the full discharge of iheir obligations under treaty, and until they achieve the permanent establishment of free institutions. The control of raw materials by the Allies or the League of Nations until the Central Powers are admitted to the League." The terms suggested by the committee expressly provide against the return to Germany of her former colonies, and demand that the control of the Kiel Canal as well as Heligoland shall bo invested in the Allied Powers.