The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1945 THREE UNHAPPY KINGS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25203, 16 May 1945, Page 6

The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1945 THREE UNHAPPY KINGS

The end of hostilities in Europe makes it natural to ask what is the immediate outlook for the various monarchies that remain on the Continent, particularly those that .were affected by the temporary spread of German power. While it is quite certain that the status quo in some i countries has not been upset, the 1 outlook for at least three kings those of Belgium, Yugoslavia and Greece —is doubtful at best. The Dutch and Norwegian Royal Families have returned home, more secure than ever in the affections of their people, whom they upheld throughout the years of suffering by exhortation and good example. King Christian of Denmark, a semiprisoner of the Germans, maintained 1 his dignity, and played a most difficult role of correct non-co-operation with the enemy, whose purposes he > did much to frustrate by holding the 1 Danes together and encouraging them by subtle implication to coni duct all possible underground resist- ' ance. The full story of his years under the Nazi heel has not yet been told, but it should reveal great patience and fortitude. King Leopold of Belgium has by contrast an unhappy, though not dishonourable, record. It is perhaps well for the future of his house that illness after ■ months of German captivity has laid him aside, and his brother, Charles, Count of Flanders, will continue as regent until further notice. Leopold was bitterly criticised in 1940 for ordering the capitulation of his troops when the German advance had made their situation hopeless. Impartial tactical study, however, has almost completely exonerated him. From the British point of view his chief error was committed before the war when, as Chief of State, he maintained his country's independence so strictly as to ban anything in the nature of Staff talks with France and Britain, whose task in attempting a defence of the Low Countries was made far more difficult in consequence. He may retort that in his judgment British and French armaments afforded him no justification for co-operation with the democracies. Leopold's persistence in regarding himself as a prisoner of war and refusing to exercise any of his Royal functions was characteristic of his mentality, and can hardly be said to have served his unfortunate country well. On the other hand, he was without a Government, which had set itself up in London, and it is difficult to see how he could have functioned except as a moral stimulus, for which temperament did not fit him. His second marriage to a commoner was not popular with most Belgians. If he sees fit later to abdicate, it is probable that Prince Charles will continue as regent for the Crown Prince, though the possibility of his being offered and accepting the Crown cannot be ruled out altogether. According to recent messages, the Belgian Socialists have called for Leopold's abdication, but the Liberals have countered this declaration with one of personal loyalty. Since in Belgium'the King has rather wider prerogatives than in Britain, at any rate for practical purposes, the matter is of some importance, and a decision may have to be made before long, but the monarchy itself does not seem to be at stake. After the political crisis of last January, the chances that young King Peter of Yugoslavia will return to his throne appear far from bright. Peter deceived world-wide applause in 1941 when he repudiated those who would have sold their country to Hitler, and when he elected to stand and defy the overwhelming German armies. Since then, unhappy Yugoslavia has suffered not only at the hands of tlie enemy, but also from fratricidal strife within her own borders ; indeed,, for instability and violence Yugoslav politics are only surpassed by those of Greece. When a settlement appeared likely as a result of negotiations between the Prime Minister in London, Dr Subasic, and Marshal Tito, and conducted with the approval of Moscow, Peter showed extraordinary unwisdom by objecting to details of a proposed regency and then dismissing his London Cabinet. After Britain and America* had rapped him hard over the knuckles, he retracted, and the Government was re-estab-lished in Yugoslavia itself. Peter has been left behind in England, and whether he will ever be invited home again is more than doubtful. Meanwhile, King George of Greece, whom the German advance also forced to flee five years ago, is also an absentee. He has not abdicated, as he was obliged to do in 1923, but memories of General Metaxas' dictatorship, to which he was a party after his return in 1935, have left him under a cloud which shows no signs of dispersing. Greece will need a period of comparative calm after the recent acute troubles before her people worry much about whether they have a king reigning over them in person dr in absence. They show no marked signs of wishing to repeat the republican experiment made during the King's former period of banishment. AMERICAN PARTICULARISM Dr Evatt has taken firm ground at San Francisco in opposing the special dispensation sought by the Latin-American republics to exclude the Security Council from disputes in the Americas. He is right to insist that the world organisation of security will be endangered by weakening the authority of the Council. If its jurisdiction is allowed to become hypothetical in one part of the world—in this case the Western Hemisphere—other parts may claim equal self-determination. Britain, Russia and China in their several spheres could fairly expect to exercise similar rights of action. The false proposition that peace is divisible would then be erected into a system. International organisation for world security would become a shadow. The effect on the Americas of a specially privileged position must also be considered. Dr Evatt thinks it may develop into a form of isolationism. The Americas want to be able to say: "Keep out. We

will settle our own disputes." In keeping the outside world aloof, the Americas may easily think they can keep aloof from the world. So they would nourish once again their favourite fallacy of isolationism, forgetting the alarms of 1940 and the stark reality of December 7, 1941. That is not to rule out regional arrangements altogether. But they must be made to fit into the framework of the world organisation and be subsidiary to it. The Anzac Pact, for instance, provides for "a regional zone of defence" in certain Pacific areas, coming "within the framework of a general system of world security." The Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance holds good pending the adoption of a world security scheme, but provides for the supersession of the treaty when the scheme becomes operative. Both instruments contemplate and allow for the primacy and overriding authority of the world organisation. An equal submission by the Americas is essential to the success of the new bid for peace and security. PETROL FOR PRIVATE CARS None has rejoiced more in the Government's "victory bonus" of petrol than the private motorist. In common with other users, he is permitted to draw the equivalent of the face value of the May and June coupons. It is a small gift, but none the less acceptable. There need be no] fear it will inspire-a motoring orj?y. There are other safeguards against that. The tyre position is too serious to permit motorists, private or commercial, to be wanton with their vehicles. Shortage of tyres, the much smaller mileage yielded by the synthetic products and the worn state of many of the tyres which have been in use since before the war, are effective brakes against speed and distances travelled. Engines, too, need overhaul before they are put to anything like their peacetime tasks. But in the hands of private motorists there are cars whose tyres and engines still have many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of'miles in them. Could not the Government, therefore, without further taxing the tyre market, allow private motorists the face value of their petrol coupons from now on 1 America has seen fit to increase the petrol allowances and Britain is restoring private cars to the roads. The present half-coupon ration is barely sufficient to keep cars "alive." All that it will do is permit the housewife to take the family car to the shopping centre and there fill the back seat with her own and her neighbours' groceries, etc., a priority which no husband can resist. Restoration of the cut in respect of the private motorist would make little difference to tyre wear and should not strain tanker facilities.