BRITAIN AND GERMANY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7077, 15 March 1910, Page 1

BRITAIN AND GERMANY.

FRIENDLINESS ASSURED PRINCE HENRY'S ADVICE TO THE GERMAN NATION. PROTECTING SEA INTERESTS. By Telegraph.—Press Assooiation—Coiiyrielit. (Received March 14, 9-35 p.m.) BERLIN, iTarcli 14. Prince Henry of Prussia, who has just returned from a visit to England, spoke on Saturday at a banquet given by the East Asiatic Society in Hamburg. His Royal Highness declared that he and the Princess had left Britain with grateful hearts. Hospitality, affection, and frankness wero the foundation whereon the life of their English cousins rested. He had been iu Britain in an absolutely unofficial ■ capacity ; but he had spoken to many persons of influence, and his Royal' Highness assured his hearers that Britain offered Germany an honourablo and sincere friendship. The idea- of any aggressive action was completely absent from the minds of the governing circles in Britain. " But," Princo Henry went on, " that friendly feeling rests on reciprocity. Nothing must bo omittod that will serve to strengthen it. Confidenco begets confidence. Germans have fought shoulder to shoulder with the British in the Far East, and have learned to respect them. The interests of both peoples will bo promoted in tho best manner by reciprocal confidences. Tho officers of the British and German Navies are sincere in their friendly feelings; but the merchant services, like the military and naval, should bo comrades. They have a social duty to discharge as well as a business duty." The Berlin newspaper "Norddeutseho Zeitung " notes Mr McKonna's cordial references to tho recent declaration by Herr von Bethman Hollweg, Imperial Chancellor, that Germany's Navy is intended solely for the protection of her trade, and adds: "As Britain considers only her own needs, so the of the German fleet is based solely on the view that defence and shelter must be created for the sea interests that have grown of such great importance to Germany's existence as a State."