The Otago Witness. (TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1920.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3448, 13 April 1920, Page 40

The Otago Witness.

(TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1920.) THE WEEK.

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THB SOUTHERN MERCURY.

"N'uß.quam allud natura, allud Bapientia dixit." •-JUVENAL. "Good nature and good sense must ever join."—

The disturbances in Germany have developed along lines which France and threaten to lead to serious Germany. complications among the Allies, an outcome which in its turn may play right into Germany s hands. Under the plea of restoring order German troops advanced into the neutral territory, known as the Ruhr basin, which contains valuable coal mines'. ' This was deemed by France a violation of the terms of the Peace Treaty, and acting apparently upon their own initiative, they retaliated by occupying a number of the German towns situate in the neutral zone, notably Frankfort, Hanau, Darmstadt, and Essen. It is'now reported that Great Britain not•only refuses to .permit British troops to perform police duty by attempting to restore order in Germany, but that the British Cabinet has signified their disapproval of France's precipitate action, and that considerable tension has consequently arisen. Like so many other incidents in connection with the war and after, the present precarious position is a result of the drift which has set in since the Paris Peace. Conference, a drift caused : by the warring motives underlying. the decisions and actions of the Allied Governments. The French policy has been clearly defined throughout; it is well expressed by Mr J. M. Keynes in these words: '"The German understands and can understand nothing but intimidation; he _is without generosity or remorse in negotiation ; there is no advantage he will' not take of you, and no extent to which ne 'will not demean himself for profit; he is without honour, pride or mercy. Therefore, you must never- negotiate with, a German or conciliate him.; you must dictate to him. On no other terms, will-" he respect you, or will vou prevent him from cheating you." This policy once accepted and acted upon the goal aimed at bv France becomes sufficiently plain. "The" German Empire," writes Mr Keynes, "has been built more truly on coal and ~ iron than on blood and iron. The skilled exploitation of the great coal-fields of the Ruhr, Upper Silesia, and the Saar alone . made possible the development of the steel, chemical and electrical industries which established her as the first industrial nation of continental Europe. One third of Germany's population lives in towns :>f more than 20,000 inhabitants, an industrial concentration which is only possible on a foundation of coal and iron. In striking, therefore, at Germany's coal supply, the French politicians were not mistaking their target." Under the terms of the Treaty the coal supply of Germany—so essential to the maintenance, of her industries is affected in four ways. Article 45 of the Treaty reads: "As compensation for the destruction of the coal mines in the North of France, and as part payment towards the total reparation due from Germany for the damage resulting from the war, Germany cedes to France in full and absolute possession with exclusive rights of exploitation, unemcumbered and free from all debts and charges' of all kinds, the coal mines situated in the Saar Basin." Secondly, Upper Silesia, wherein lies one of the major coal-fields of Germany, yielding about 25 per cent, of the total output of house coal, is to be ceded to Germany, subject to a"plebiscite. Under these two ■ provisions Germany loses about dne-third of her coal supply, in addition to which ahe is called on to make good, year by year, the estimated loss which France has incurred by the destruction and damage of war in the coal-fields of her northern provinces: such deliveries not to exceed 20,000,000 tons in any one year of the first five years, and 8,000,000 tons in any one year of the succeeding five years. This provision, however, is only a part of the general Reparation Scheme under which for some years to come Germany is required to send to France, Belgium, Italy and Luxemburg 25,000.000 tons per annum in addition to the 20,000,000 tons to France. This will leave Germany for her own use only some 78,000,000 tons, as acainst a yearly pre-war consumption of 139,000.000 tons, as the base of this supply is the Ruhr basin. It is obvious that if as a result of the present disturbances France can assume occupation of the Ruhr basin, she will hold Germany industrially and commerciallv by the throat and have her entirelv "at her mercy. - Thus, whatever political and diplomatic considerations be urged in justification of the French advance, the real motives at the root of her action should bo judged in the light of the foregoing facts^

When the reasons for the British disapproval of the action of A Matter of Franco in occupying the Motives. towns in the neutral zone pome to be examined, the extent to which grave international decisions are influenced by political jealousies and party considerations stands 'alarmingly revealed. America has fallen from her high estate in the estimation.of the entire civilised world for this very "reason; and the ignoble wranglings between the President and the Senate have become an absolute byword. There is a distinct danger that Oreat Britain may fall under the same, reproach owing to the straggle for supremacy between Mr Lloyd George and Mr Asquith, the latter leader, curiously enough in the light of past liistory, having the powerful support of The Northcliffe Press, whilst the Prime Minister stands in the peculiar position of Fanning the risk of being dubbed pro-

German. Mr Asquith's attempt, as the natural sequence ot his success at Paisley, to rally the forces of British Liberalism and by destroying the Coalition Government, take the first step towards superseding Mr Lloyd George lies at the root of the difference between France and Great Britain. ! Mr Lloyd George is employing all his powers of persuasion, and his great gift of oratory, in the direction of capturing the Liberals and the more moderate section of the Labour party, to which end he is taking a large leaf out of Mr Asquith's book. Mr Asquith has denounced the Vensailles Treaty as impossible to carry cut, and he has pronounced for a revision of the Treaty, for peace with Russia, and for a " true international domocratic policy," based on self-determination. This, among other things, has been interpreted as giving Egypt and Ireland power to decide the r form of State life. Mr Asouith has also pronounced against conscription, he favours a "drastic reduction" in armaments, and has supported the withdrawal of British troops from Raissia and from all "incidental adyentures" such as the one on which France is now engaged. Mr Lloyd George in influencing the Cabinet to protest against France's latest "adventure is anticipating Mr Asquith's criticism,-and incidentally drawing down upon his head the wrath of Cord Northcliffe. This disapproval of France's action is characterised by The. Times as " the rudest shock to Anglo-French relations since the establishment of the Entente," amounting to political apostasy, fatal alike to Britain s interests and her good name; the chief organ of Northcliffe.-opinion goes on to say: "The scandalous communique from Downing street outlining the disagreement actually adopts Germany's disingenuous version of General Watter's ' policing' invasion of the Ruhr. Apparently France's independent action hurt the small personal vanities of the British authorities and affected party interests." It is obvious that any serious breach in the relations between France and Great Britain would be as meat and drink to Germany, and the development of an exceedingly critical situation will be awaited with grave anxiety.

The rumour—since - denied—that Lord French is resigning the Ireland. Viceroyship of Ireland to take up the Governorgeneralship of Canada; together with the replacement of Mr J. I. Macpherson aa Chief Secretary of Ireland by Sir Haman Greenwood may be accepted as evidence that things are going from bad to worse in the Emerald Isle. Mr Lloyd George has expressed the opinion that the present campaign of outrage and violence—admittedly conceived and carried out by the cleverest brains in Ireland—has been deliberately adopted by the Sinn Fein leaders, -so as to render impossible any settlement of the Irish question. If by this he means a settlement on the line of the new Irish Bill, which by providing for two Parliaments, practically divides Ireland into two, he is manifestly right. Mr Lloyd Georga perceives in the- Bill the way to the ultimate unity of Ireland, but the Sinn Fein section will never be satisfied with anything less than seperation. And the present dead-lock is daily rendered more- difficult of solution by the perpetration of outrage upon outrage. Lord French came close to the truth in pointing out that while much criticism was being heaped upon the Home Rule Bill, no one had come forward with a constructive alternative. Lord French avowed himself a Home Ruler and in total disagreement with Dublin Castle methods, and he reiterated what is constantly being said by Irishmen that "England does not understand Ireland one bit. The gravity of the situation stands revealed in Lord French's statement that the Sinn Feiners had now a formidable force in an organised army of 100,000 men in regiments and brigades under disciplined officers and possessed of arms that are mostly stolen, and well supplied with funds. Lord French takes hope- from evidence of a split in the Sinn Fein ranks, but although such a split may delay the threatened revolution—the much dreaded Easter season has passed without sign of an organised outbreak—it will by no means settle the Irish question. The central strength of Irish nationalism, as one observer has pointed out, lies in its disregard of the immediate event; and he supports this contention by quoting the words of Pearse, one of the leaders of the Dublin rising: "Wise men. have told me that I ought never to set my foot on a path unless I can see clearly whither it will lead me. But that philosophy would condemn most of us to stand still till we rot. Surely no one can do more than assure one's self that each step one takes is right, and as to the Tightness of a step one is fortunately answerable only to one's conscience and' not to the wise men of the country house. The street will pass judgment on our enterprises according as they have 'succeeded' or 'failed.' But if one can feel that one has striven faithfully to do a right thing, does not one stand ultimafcelv justified, no matter what the issue of one's attempt, no matter what the sentence of the street?" In this way Poarse commended to his scholars the spirit expressed in " that laughing gesture of a young man that is going into" battle or climbing to a gibbett," thereby marking out Ireland as a strange country that sets before the eyes and aspirations of its idealist a "jibbett." And until Sinn Fein, like Bolshevism, is recognised as possessing, behind all its manifold evils, an ideal, it can never be coped with and legislated for. The worst feature about the Ireland of to-day is that it is losing its genuine native humour and is becoming, as serious as Scotland itself. "Ireland of yesterday," says Mr Stephen Gwynn, "even m its poverty, was a merry country ; to-day,

even in its prosperity, it is full of bitter, mirthless rancour and hate."

On his journey through America the Prince of Wales is everyThe prince's where winning golden Progress. opinions, and is more than maintaining the reputation for popularity won in the Homeland and in Canada. At Barbadoe3, at Panama, and at San Diego the same scenes of wild enthusiasm -were enacted, and after allowing for the inevitable hyperbole of the newspaper correspondents, it is evident that the Prince has endeared _ himself to American democracy. AU_ this is likely to operate favourably against the AntiAmerican feeling which has of late expressed itself so unmistakeably. Just as it was given his grandfather—Edward VII of gracious memory—to heal a long standing feud between Prance and Great Britain, thus paving the way for the Anglo-French Entente; so it may be hoped that the spontaneous enthusiasm evinced bv Americans at the visit of this scion of British -Royalty may operate in the direction of allaying the irritation felt by citizens of the British Empire everywhere at the recent drift in American International policy and the consequent rift in the lute over the League of Nations scheme and its establishment for the perpetuation of peace. It is scarcely too much to anticipate that the visit of the Prince of Wales will exert a healing and mollifying influence in Australia and New Zealand. In the Dominion one or two Ugly clouds lower on the horizon which the rejoicings over the coming of the Prince may help to disperse. Mr Massey's remarks on the cost of living problem, for instance, do not seem to go to the root' of the matter, and. they offer no relief to the struggling heads of families, whose fixed incomes do not suffice to enable them to make two ends meet. The perpetual irritation of the effort to provide for family need's engenders a dissatisfaction which sooner or later will find concrete expression. There is trouble, too, looming for the problems of the Pacific, comprehended* in New Zealand's mandate for Samoa. The explicit statements in regard to indentured labour and the action of the New Zealand Government in recruiting such labour, issued by the Labour representatives who accompanied the Parliamentary picnic, require a great deal of explanation. At the present juncture the affairs of the Dominion call for calm and courageous handling, and the acerbity of the discussions when Parliament meets will,. it is to be hoped, be softened and rendered less bitter by the feelings of ioy and delight evoked bv the visit of the Prince of Wales. God bless him.