BRITAIN AND GERMANY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11863, 29 May 1909, Page 5

BRITAIN AND GERMANY.

(Press Assn.— By Telegraph — Copyright) (Received May 29,: 8.45 a.m.) . BERLIN, May 28. Mr Asquith's two-Power standard .speech has aroused much criticism. ' Ther lleichbote declares that the < manner of Great Britain's claim to supremacy of the sea is intolerable presumption. The newspaper y Tagliche Luridchan taunts Great Britain with unpreparedness for war.

The London correspondent of the Sydnpy Telegraph writes under the heading, 'Tight Now" :— ''Up to the present ho brie has declared Openly for an immediate war with Germany. But on this point it -is easy to read the mind of England. The nation to-day ': would acplaim with one voice any- a^.>on the part of v the Germans which would put the British navy into action. And this universal feeling is begiririirig td' find expression. It. shows up vqry quietly, but none the . less significantiyv .in speeches and editorial articles, and it .is likely t0. ... become more . and more > pronbunc'ed. y The people of Great Britain are convinced of two' things— that Ger Iniariy is aiming at and threatening their naval' supremacy, arid tliat whatever; the future may show, the British riavy is at this moment capable of blowing the German fleet out of the water. Hence the demand to fight now. Those who hold this view— and they are legion— make out .a strong case for instant aggression oh the part of England. The instincts of 'the sportsman find no place .in War. They urge that we have j'ust the- same right to \ choose our rime . as Germany; ' W hy wait, they ask, until the conjoined fleets of Austria arid Germany outmatch iri strength the fleet of Enghirid? .-. Is it riot just as fair for us to fight in the hbur of bur superiority as, for them to do so? And they go on to shoAy" that ;a blow .delivered on the sea to : 'day v would probably make the British Empire safe against the world for all. time." If Germany evei* beats England on the watei* they declare/she will' "-at once crumple up. the British mercantile marine" I 'and strike again . and again at her oversea possession's. Rebellion woiild; be foinented in India; and Northern Africa every British flag iii the world would be irienaced. But Why Wait for such a possibility? "Why not reverse the procedure? Germany is "plainly looking for fight; she is. unmistakably the aggressor" "Well, let her have -what she wants-^-now. ; : " [Naval wav to-day would,. in the opinion , ctf those who base their; calculations on the unquestionable' 'fighting qualities of the British navy," "mean the annihilation of Germany? 8 - sea forces. But i Great Britain , would not- stop there. Following all precedent, she Would, with her enemy helpless in Europe, "at brice proceed' to ahriex every" oversea possesion Of the Kaiser's. Germany would 'come out of- the war without a navy, with her trade , shattered, her colonics for the time at an ertdy her 'very ..' coaling stations in the hands qf the British. She could build, again, of course, but not iri a hurry. Her re-ascent" to rivalry ! iv°rild take some years— at least a-quarter, of a century— arid '■■ by that tittle she 'would be faced, not by Ahe British Empire of tjb : day, but by an >Empire immeasurably stronger in. its white/ population ind its fighting power.. Oversea dominions which can volunteer Dreadnoughts and initiate Ideal navies torday , riia-y be- counted -on for something really big in another five arid twenty years. So reasons the mind of this country to-dayi"