WALFISCH BAY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11610, 18 April 1912, Page 6

WALFISCH BAY.

'THE GERMAN IDEAL

Half-way down the thousand-mile stretch of sandy and desolate coast which German South-West Africa offers to the stormy surge of the Southern Atlantic lies the harbor of Walfisch Buy, on which the eye of Germany is fixed to-day. It is a small and poor place—a mere hamlet, with a pier 200 yards long and a little narrow-gauge railway twelve miles long on which tiny trains run, or did run, "as required," to Rooikop, on the German frontier. The population is insignificant—l 44 whites and 853 colored persons- —and is engaged in trade with the German territory about it or in the now decaying, whale fishery. The area, as estimated before the recent arbitration fixing the exact frontiers, was 430 square miles, or twice the size of Middlesex.

This British possession, which since 1378.ha5. formed part of Cape Colony, is the last remnant and indication of the British "sphere of influence" which forty years ago was regarded as extending along this coast to the Portuguese frontier. In Cape Colony it was taken as a matter of course that no other' Power would step in and acquire territory which so obviously formed part of its hinterland. There was consternation, therefore, in Capetown when in 1883 Germany annexed the area of 320,000 square miles which now forms German South-West Africa. .Walfisch Bay was excepted from this annexation because there the British flag was actually flying, and two or three islands along the coast were also retained for' the British Crown. Attempts were' made in 1883 and 1884 to obtain'Wal--fisch Bay for Germany, but, though the British Government of that period was ready to make almost any surrender, such indignation was aroused in.Cape Colony at the mere idea that the negotiations were unsuccessful. Thus Walfisch Bay became an enclave in German territory, and was cut off from all access to the hinterland. But a great mistake is made if its value and importance are underrated. Though a poor little place in its present undeveloped state, it has great possibilities. Li has by far the best harbor on the whole South-West African coast, north of Saldhana Bay. There is indeed nothing like it to the north till Lagos is reached. The shape of th e harbor 's oval, with the seaward opening to the north. It is protected against all the prevalent winds by a long peninsula, Pelican Point, and' is safe in all states of the weather. Moreover, it has deep water. Strategically its importance ;s verv great. It lies close to the main trade-routes in the Southern Atlantic, and cruisers operating from it as their base could attack with deadly effect the British food' ships steaming from Argentina, one of our main sources of. supply, or proceeding bv the Cape route from India and Australia. If only for that reason we must be careful what becomes The German ideal is to make Walfisch Bay the great port of their South-West \friean possessions and a strong naval base. Swakopmund, their present capital and the centre whence-the German railways run inland, is a wretched harbor lv'ing oh an open coast; and' without enormous expense, running into millions, it cannot be converted into even a passable port. It lies, however, onlv 25 miles to the north of Walfisch Bay. and the evident intggtion of the selection, of such a site was to-render th? transference .-of its trade and commerce to Walfisch Bav as easy as possible, when John Bull* and the South- African Union should have been coaxed or threatened- into the surrender of that port. \ . In 1908. during Herr Dernburg's visit to South Africa, the question of the cession of Walfish Bay is said- to have been broached by him to Mr Merrimau, then in power in Cape Colony, and General Botha. This has been formally denied by the German Foreign Office and bv Herr Dernbirrg himself, yet the Berlin Post admitted at the time that "the subject- of the acquisition of Walfisch Bay was touched upon," thought, it added, there had been no formal negotiations. But the "conversations" did not- succeed. Neither Mr Merriman nor General Botha would hear of the surrender of Walfisch Bay without some far larger equivalent- than Germany was prepared to offer. Nor were they prepared to go behind the British Foreign Office, which, it appeared, was ignored in these curious proceedings by the German Colonial Minister. On the present occasion a campaign has been worked! up in the German Press against Great Britain. Day after day the German people have been told by their inspired guides that Britain behaved "treacherously" hi supporting France during the Morocco negotiations, that she meditatedi a lawless attack on the German fleet, and' that for these acts of perfidy she owes Germany "compensation." The Deutsche Revue has said that, to prove her repentance, "England must make us honest and honorable concessions. Sir Robert- Hadfield was told in Berlin, . "No resolutions of Friendship Committees will avail (to exculpate England). There must be tangible acts like the cession of Walfisch Jsay." Whence it is clear that the German object is to get Walfisch Bay for nothing. But_the arguments on which this demand- is based are radically unsound. Britain was bound to supportFrance by the treaty "of 1904. She no more acted- treacherously to Germany in announcing the fact than did thd German Michael-when, "clad! in shining armor," he intimated to Russia in March 1909 that he would support Austria in the Bosnian question. As for the perfidious designs against the German Fleet, they are disproved by a study of the British naval dispositions, and are known by the German Admiralty and Foreign- Office to be absurd and untrue.

The ultimate aim of Germany is, beyond question, to connect her railways with the Rhodesian system, and to tnp and bring down through her Southwest African territory the fast-growing traffic.of Rhodesia. For the execution of this plan a good- port is absolutely indispensable. But the hostility of South African statesmen to this project is quite intelligible. It would cut out Capetown, impoverish their State rail-, ways, and affect their national credit, which is largely based on the railwayearnings.