"MEALS FOR DICTATORS"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23647, 3 November 1938, Page 8

"MEALS FOR DICTATORS"

POLICY OF APPEASEMENT THE SITUATION IN EUROPE DUNEDIN TRAVELLER'S VIEWS "Mr Chamberlain speaks about his policy of appeasement, but what does that mean? The only explanation I could gather during my stay in Europe is that the appeasement means giving good, square meals to dictators. Hitler has already had a good meal of Austria, and as soon as he got over that he had another one of Sudetenland. I suppose as soon as he has digested this and absorbed it into his system, he will direct all his attention to regaining the lost colonies. And what will be the effect of appeasement then? Will it mean giving Germany back some of its lost territories?" These are some of the questions in Europe to-day that caught the attention of Mr H. S. Adams, who has returned to Dunedin after a tour of Great Britain, Germany, France, and the United States of America. Mr Adams was in Germany when the recent crisis was developing. Interesting sidelights on conditions in Germany were also brought back by the Dunedin traveller who told an Otago Daily Times reporter that he feels more strongly than ever that there is no country in the world that can compare with a British land for freedom, prosperity, and security. Hitler's Isolation Policy "Hitler's policy to-day seems to be to isolate Britain and France from the rest of Europe," said Mr Adams. "The Rhine forms a wonderful, natural boundary and there are very few generals who would venture to take an army over this huge river unless the enemy air force was beaten beforehand. Once an army was safely over the Rhine enemy bombers could destroy the bridges and cut off all lines of communication. I don't think Britain or France could have done very much had they embarked on a war against Germany over the recent trouble. The British fleet could have done little harm to Germany, and a British and French land force would have had difficulty in penetrating into the country because of the Rhine. Then again, Russia could not have done a great deal for Czechoslovakia because it has not a frontier with either Germany or the Czech nation. "An interesting feature of the crisis," Mr Adams said, "was the changed attitude of the different classes in Britain. Mr Chamberlain, probably influenced to a large degree by the thought of bombing raids on London, was all out for peace, whereas the British people generally were quite prepared to fight. It is interesting to note that in the Great War it was the capitalists who wanted war, but in this case it was the working people. British Labour was very anxious for war as it is to the Fascist States. But Mr Chamberlain and his colleagues gradually brought the people round to thinking of peace, and the country as a whole was thankful when it was made known that there would not be war."

But the colonial question was still to be faced, he added, and it would be interesting to see what answer Mr Chamberlain would give to Germany's requests. With his own country so poor. Hitler had little to lose and much to gain in a war for colonies: Impressions Of Germany "What struck me most of all," Mr Adams said when speaking of his visit to Germany, " was the poverty of the nation. In all kinds of ways it is apparent that Germany is not the wealthy country its leaders try to make out. A traveller notices this in the little things of life. For example, you cannot get white bread anywhere. Even in the best hotels the bread is a dirty colour, made from flour with all kinds of impurities, and in the homes of the people the bread is black. Breakfasts in Germany are very difficult for the tourist who is used to good bread, and often I had difficulty in eating the aniseed bread supplied The people do not dress at all well and the shops display very inferior goods. At the opera it was very noticeable how poorly dressed the women were compared with their sisters in London. Incidentally, when we went to the opera in Munich we were given seats in ' the gods' and we had to pay 12s 6d a seat in New Zealand money. How the Germans afford the good seats, I don't know."

"The scarcity of stock in the country is very noticeable," Mr Adams continued, "and it seems that the farmers have never been able to recover from the Great War. In fact, the German countryside looks like a gigantic market garden. They had a record harvest this year and huge storage buildings have been erected to hold surplus produce. And yet you cannot get white bread. It was stated that 80,000 Italian workmen were sent to Germany to help take in the record crops. This was because so many Germans were engaged in military work in preparation for the Czechoslovakian campaign." The sum total of these sidelights on German life was to give Mr Adams the impression that the people did not want war and that the country could not stand it. He was convinced that had Germany been compelled to face a world war to gain her ends in Central Europe, the nation would have crumpled. The people certainly had a wonderful regard for Hitler even though they were afraid of him, he said. It was natural for them to admire him because he had certainly done a great deal for Germany. He had brought Austria into the Reich, had taken the Sudeten areas without firing a shot, and had practically done away with the Treaty of Versailles except for the question of colonies, the regaining of which seemed to be his next objective.