DU SOLD ON SAMOA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3168, 2 December 1914, Page 80

DU SOLD ON SAMOA.

RAGE AT “ INSOLENT INTRUDERS.” FATHERLAND’S COLONIAL POLICY. (Fbom Ouh Own Correspondent.) LONDON, October 9. Dr Solf, German Secretary of State for the Colonies, has addressed a letter to the director of a German company -doing business with the South Seas, which has been sent to the German newspapers for publication. Dr Solf, who has ben Governor of Samoa for 10 years before becoming Secretary of State for the Colonies in the year 1910, writes:— “ I need not asesure you that the fate of Samoa touches me very closely. No one knows better than you how very dear this pearl of the South Seas, this jewel of our German Protectorate, became to me during my 10 years of Governorship. It was permitted to me to hoist the German flag on this island, which was so greatly coveted by three nations; I have spent the best years of my life on it, and have employed them in endeavouring to make peace, to introduce a well-ordered administration, and to further the healthy, economic development of Samoa. And now, when the held has been tilled during years of toil, and the harvest is at liana, shall this bo gathered by the insolent inrrudeis? Fortunately, the late of our colonies will not be decided in Africa and in the South Seas, but on the battlefields of Europe, and in view of what has already been achieved by our arms, I am absolutely confident that we ehali finally succeed in overcoming even our worst enemy—namely, England. This, however, is a difficult task; it is a task which is far more difficult than is imagined by the majority of our countrymen, who know the English world-Empire only from hem ay ard regard it through glasses dulled by a furious anger produced by its present attitude. We need not fear England’s military forces on land; Moltke and our generals in command are equal to and will easily settle the arts of Kitchener and of French. At sea our young, numerically inferior fleet will ultimately subdue the greatest maritime Power of all time, which yet found it necessary to summon Japan as well as the French ally to its help. The example of our enemies justifies us in cherishing* the most daring hopes, and Great Britain’s prestige, already shaken by our victories over her troops, will hardly be able to overcome her reverses on the sea, for England’s power over the native races subject to her lies in the belief in the invincibility of the Mother Country. ‘‘ln spite of everything,” he goes on, ‘‘we must remain cool, and continue to be on our guard, for even if Engiauci were weakened we must ~t underestimate the value of the means, peculiar to British warfare, employed to retrieve the lack of military preparedness. Reprehensible and insidious as are the arms with which England is fighting our trade and our industry, they are arms which are equal in danger to our dreaded howitzers. I need not describe these dangers to a Hamburger. Like all Hanseatic merchants, you feel this, and with increased bitterness, for I join with you in confessing that I should never have believed that the English w-ere capable of such unscrupulous spitofulness as they have showm the world since August 4. It is of n ouse complaining. We shall fight and prevail against her. We shall prevail on both fronts, the military and the economical, until we have ensured for ourselves peace and security for at least a century. When peace is concluded I will, in the first place, have my colony back again; what furthermore is hoped for and attainable we can discuss later. From the standpoint of my department you will r.ot blame me if I already cherish the desire to hoist the peace flag for a Greater Germany in Africa.”