NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23413, 1 August 1939, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

MODERN SPIDER AND FLY Germany's coups in Europe offered a modern example of spider and the fly, said Mr. Oliver Stanley, President of tho Board of Trade, in a recent speech. First, there came tho invitation to enter the parlour, and then the inescapable position when once in. "lho only addition is that the spider issues a communique afterward, saying with what gratification and affection the fly has found his final resting place,said Mr. Stanley. "If any country wants to resist this bullying menace to its liberty and independence it will not have to resist it alone. We British have no demands on Germany, but if she attempts to dominate the world by force our reply must be the reply of history, that we refuse to allow the world to be subdued by this means." SEA POWER TO-DAY A danger that impresses LieutenantCommander Ivcnneth Edwards, as lie shows in his book "Uneasy Oceans," is the intervention of Japan on the side of Germany. Britain is equal, he believes, to a war at soa against Gormnny and Italy combined, but not if Japan joined our enemies. Not until naval re-armament has made further progress shall Britain be equal to victory in three theatres of war, including the Far East, simultaneously. This danger period, he writes, may be tided over by the pre-occupation of Japan with the war in China and by the British policy of playing for time. The danger period would, however, cease to exist if the United States of America made it clear that in the event of world war her resources of supply would be placed at the disposal of the democracies, while she would resist by force any expansion by Japan in the Pacific. NO LONGER A C 3 NATION

As regards the Militiamen called up under the new Military Training Act, a day spent as Interviewing Officer attached to a medical board in a West London suburb enables one to form an idea, writes Major B. T. Reynolds in the Spectator. I saw some 50 men varying from public school boys through various grades of skilled worker to milk roundsmen, window cleaners and the like —a fair sample of those who will be coming up for training next month. The board graded them 1., 11., 111. and IY. in order of fitness. The medical examination appeared to be very thorough and the doctors wore delighted with the results. The men I .saw struck mo as a very good lot physically. The figures for the first 17,865 Militiamen examined throughout Britain have been published by the Ministry of Labour. As many as 84.5 per cent were Grado 1., 8.8 per cent Grado 11., 4.4 per cent Grade 111., and 2.3 per cent Grado IV. These figures can be compared with the report of the war-timo Ministry of National Service, working to the same medical standards in 1917-1918 —36 per cent Grade 1., 23 per cent Grado 11., 31 per cent Grado 111., and 10 per cent Grade IV. There is cause for legitimate satisfaction here.

POISONOUS PROPAGANDA "The real tragedy of the situation seems to me to bo that the future of Europo is being poisoned to-day by means of tlie propagation of false and unfounded suspicions," said Mr. Neville Chamberlain in a recent speech. The German people, for instance, are being drenched day and night with assertions that Great Britain is planning to encircle them, and encirclement, they are told, means the denial to them of the natural and legitimate expansion of their trade and the exercise of a gradually increasing economic pressure designed to lower their standards of life till they are finally crushed and helpless. What a grotesque travesty of the attitude of Britain I The aim of our foreign policy is now, as always, to establish a peaceful world, where each nation can pursue its occupations in security and confidence. In such a world we can see great prospects . for the expansion of German industry and the employment of German workers, for every country to-day needs goods and equipment such as German and British industries are particularly well able to supply. In a world in which confidence was restored our two countries could well co-operate in developing the resources which still lie latent and which would bring in returns of solid value to us both."

ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS "When I started for my first visit to England after the enmity of the great world war, it was with a heart full of goodwill," said Herr Direktor, Wilhelm Flatz, in addressing tho Building Societies' Conference in England. "I cannot tell you liow much I was touched when I found that your hearts were wide open to goodwill too. I had tho privilege of calling many of you 'friend' in English and 'freund' in German; it shows how closely related we are. Our languages aro like dialects of one language, and our nations aro like cousins. When I started for my seventh visit to England, it looked as if in tho meantime the seven seas had spread between England and Germany. But I crossed those seven seas and all those difficulties, and hero I am again with an advertiser's motto borrowed from your conference at Llandudno—'Goodwill carried to all parts; distance no object.' I look back to tho day when I stammered my first address to you in 1932. On that occasion I quoted a few sentences from 'Cavnlcado,' which impressed mo very much. On tho morning of August 4j 1914, a little boy, who afterward fell in the Great War, says: 'I rather liko Germany, don't you, father? ' And his father answers: 'Enormously.' These friendly nations wont into the Great War, the aftermath of which is a lasting punishment for tho whole world. At tho end of 'Cavalcade,' tho old couplo who have lost so much, drink to the hope 'that one day this country, which we love so much, will find greatness and peace again.' That is what I quoted in 1932. j\t that time we didn't speak too much about peaco and goodwill; wo simply had them. It alls scorns liko a had dream. Although tho aftermath of the last war is still with us, we are already preparing to bring in the aftermath of the next. Yet wo want nothing more than tlio gospel of goodwill, mutual understanding and co-operation. May I quote tho old couplo of 'Cavalcade' again, with a little alteration, and hope 'that one day both our cousin nations will find dignity, greatness and peace again.' " -