AS THE HUM SEES IT

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9692, 21 June 1917, Page 4

AS THE HUM SEES IT

GLORYING IN BARBARISM TEARS HAD TO SHINE IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. Tho German newspapers, having represented the great Hindcnburg retreat as involving no fighting and no losses, are in some difficulty about the latest news from tho West. The "Cologne Gazette,” for example, declared recently that everything is still proceeding “according to plan,” and denied indignantly that tho German troops are anywhere being "pressed back.” , Tho article concluded:— "Wo arc able to say that in all these collisions oUr action is according to programme, and consists in carrying out orders of our Supreme Command, which .at the moment is seeking no decision, but is allowing contact with tho enemy to bo maintained. Tactically, our troops are showing great skill in the use of ground, and a masterly knowledge of the way to perform tho very difficult task of breaking off a fight at the proper time. They are fighting where .and when they wish — not according to any dictation by tho enemy.” Tho German correspondents at the front are now writing what they call “farewells to the Somme,” which they combine with shameless descriptions of the German work of devastation and plunder. Thus Herr Georg Querl reports to the “Berliner Tagehlatt” : “From the middle of Mardh it looked like the house-moving of humble people—mattresses and chairs, and perhaps a sewing machine, or a hen coop. And then there was a fine quantity of doors and windows, and everything else which seemed ■ worth carrying away from the houses, which a few hours later were to disappear in flames. And they carted away trunks of trees —good, solid, healthy wood. “WHAT A DESERT!” “What a desert 1 A melancholy desert, stretching for miles. They sawed and hacked, the trees collapsed, and the hushes fell, and so it went on for days, until everything had been razed to the ground. No coyer was to be left anywhere. The enemy is to go thirsty, and to look in vain for wells. Nowhere will he find four walls within which he might establish himself. Everything is thrown down and burnt out, the villages are heaps of rubbish, and tho church towers and the churches with them, lie across the roads. Heat, smoke, and smell I ’ The explosions are still doing their last work,”

Herr Querl enlarges upon the achievements of the German sappers as if they had just won a battle, and gloats*over the expected reaction in France: —

\ “Let them see it- Let them see it over there! This naked, terrible war should ho reflected in all tho shop windows of the Boulevards. We have put distance between us and tho enemy. It is a desert full of wretchedness.” Ho concludes with the following valediction, which is an interesting confession of the effect on tho Gormans of tbo battle of the Somme;

“Farewell, comrades, you who must sloop on the Somme I You were our firm defence. Every grave-mound is a bulwark, as was the body which - it covers. Your names are songs. FareWell, comrades of the Somme 1 The children in Germany say ‘Somme,’ and they know that that word is fate. Every village made sacrifice to the Somme of its youth and its men. No river is so red with blood, and so overflowing with tears. Do you think that the enemy did not weep ? All the tears had to shine in France and England until all the women of America had their diamonds. Now the diamonds hang on fair necks, and glitter with enmity.” , COMFORT FROM CHINA. Gorman comment on China is now devoted to proving that German interests in the East will not really he affected. The “North-German Gazette,” in a semi-official article on tho rupture of diplomatic relations, says:— “The rupture does not involve the suspension of existing treaties. The Germans still have the right to live and carry on trade under the protection of extra-territoriality in the settlements of all nationalities and in the towns which are open to foreigners. They also continue to enjoy the privileges of the most-favoured-nation clause. “After the war, China will, for her political and economic health, be more than ever dependent upon the goodwill of all the Great Powers, and she would imperil her independence if she sought permanently a one-sided connection. Germany was always friendly towards China. The present step threatens to rob the weak Chinese Republic of the goodwill of that Power, which, together with her Allies, will emerge as tho conqueror from the world-war. It will rest with the Government of China to keep open the way of return to good relations with Germany. Above all, it must ibe expected that China shall afford to the Germans, and to German property in China, the full protection of the Ger-man-Ohinese treaties.” The German public seem to think otherwise. Herr Eugen Zimmerraann, in the Berlin “Lokal Arizeiger,” says that “after the experiences of the war, it would not be advisable to attach any importance to the treaties concerning the protection of German property and the freedom of German trade in the Chinesei Empire” ; and he even adds, for the benefit of Herr von Bethmann Hollweg, that the Germans “think involuntarily of the scrap of paper.”