Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, FEB. 17, 1914. REPRESENTATIVES AT PANAMA EXHIBITION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13307, 17 February 1914, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, FEB. 17, 1914. REPRESENTATIVES AT PANAMA EXHIBITION.

Very great interest has been excited m England over the refusal of the Government to authorise official representation at the Panama-Pacifio Exposition, to be held m Sah Francisco next year,, and on the opposite side of tlie Atlantic the. subject has been regarded with exceeding gravity. Late m October an influential British committee was formed .to press upon the Government the importance of altering its decision. Leading firms from all parts of the United Kingdom have urged- reconsideration, even at the last " moment, and reiterate their determination to exhibit. Tho Government, however, remains obdurate and on December 19th intimated that after giving tho matter careful consideration il was not able to modify its decision. Again on Friday last a similar announcement was made. The December announcement gave the Government what the London Times describes as a "bad press." The Daily News called the action of the Government "a bad blunder," and the Daily Chronicle, another Liberal organ, described it as "a profound errpr," showing an "astonishing insensibility to the views and wishes of the great majority of British traders and manufacturers." The! Times itself describes the decision as an error of judgment, which, however, it confidently hopes, will not be irretrievable. 'JWe are fully aware," says that paper, "that thero are other than financial reasons for' tho non-repre-sentation of Great Britain at San Francisco. The' German Imperial Government has hitherto' declined to participate officially m the Exhibition, and Herr Ballin's independent committee for organising a German section at the Panama Exhibition lias been dissolved. For reasons which we find it difficult to appreciate the action, or rather inaction, of our Government seems to be linker m some strange manner to the inaction of Germany. We refrain from discussing the misconceptions to w,hich this negative arrangement may give rise m the United States; but we are afc a loss to understand, how our Government came to be yoked with the German Go' : vernment < m regard to a matter which concerns Great Britain and the Oversea Dominions much, more nearly than it can possibly concern the Government or the people of the German Empire. Some of the British Dominions are taking part officially m the Exhibition : Germany has no dominions m a similar position. The Exhibition is being organised m connection with the opening of the Panama Canal: it was Great Britain, not Gerirtany, that facilitated that gigantic enterprise, now nearing completion, by abrogating the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. Wo are, moreover, celebrating a centenary of peace between Great Britain and the United States : a century ago the German Empiro did not exist, and Prussia had hardly thrown off the yoke of Napoleon. , Germany does not and cannot stand m the same relationship as does this country to the United States. We and the Americans have our differences, despite ties of blood and language. We are often -woefully ignorant, and sometimes prone to . suspicion, of each other ; but when all is «aid ana done we stand as near to each other as any two separate nations of the civilised world, and it is mot (right or desirable that our participation m each other's enterprises should be affected by any extraneous considerations. We do not for an instant suppose that any hare and fast arrangement exists between us and Germany m regard to non-partici-pation m the Panama-Pacific .Exhibition. Whatever engagement we may have entered into probably consists of an informal exchange of views containing at most an assurance that' the one country would not participate officially without informing tho other. If this is so.th'c sooner the German Government is informed that we have thought better of our reluctance to participate tho better. Official aloofness will not prevent this country from being represented. The only question is whether the representation shall be duly and officially sanctioned and encouraged, If the question cannot be decided from the narrower standpoint of these islands alone, it should bo decided from the British Im> perial standpoint. An interesting proposal has been made that all British exhibits at San Francisco, instead of returning direct to England, shduld be shown at the Winnipeg and Toronto Exhibitions m 1916. Great gratification will be felt throughout Canada if this proposal can be carried through." In the American press Britain's sulky refusal to participate, has been received with comments which run all the way from what may be termed "nasty" Ato friendly expressions of pained regret. The New York Times says that, though the action of the Cabinet is to be deplored on account of the characteristically narrow spirit it -reveals, it will not endanger the friendly relations between the United States and Great Britain. It points out that neither the British nor German peoples see eye to eye with the Governments, and that many manufacturers desire to participate While the New York Times does not think that there is any proof that the Panama tolls controversy is at the bottom of the business, it does register a very cm T phatic opinion that Germany would have participated had she not bound herself to the chariot-wheels of British stupidity. The New York Herald and the Washington Post are examples of the less friendly commentators. It is evident, says the Post, that Great Britain and • Germany have m mind something far more important than the San Francisco Exhibition when- they go. to the extent of. making a secret compact aimed against the United States. Haa England, it asks, by holding out some alluring bait, managed to enlist Germany m opposition to the purpose of the United

States to operate the Panama Canal m a way that does not suit England? The New York Herald, after saying that m view of what happened over the Panama tolls the United States cannot complain if England shows resentment, writes : — "It has been a matter of common remark m recent years that German diplomacy was constantly outclassing that of Great Britain. What shrewder move could be made than to drive a" wedge to split Anglo-Saxon friendship?" The impression is bound to be created," writes the Washington correspondent of th 9 Times, "that Downing street is acting out of a motive of petty revenge for I the Panama Canal Act. That this estimate of British diplomacy should get abroad is highly unfortunate at a time when the President is about to try to influence an obstinate Congress m favor of the British side m the Panama- controversy, when the Mexican situation may from moment to moment produce a crisis calling for international forbearance and understanding, and when so much ink is being, spilt and so much official hrfeath being periodically expended m glorifying the pending celebrations of the centenary of the Treaty of Ghent."