WAR IN THE FUTURE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14968, 23 July 1919, Page 7

WAR IN THE FUTURE.

QUESTION OF PREVENTION: SIR

D. HAIG'S VIEWS

No more interesting rectorial address has ever been made than that of Sir Douglas Haig on his installing as Hector of St. Andrew's University. Sir Douglas's record m the war .entitles him above most men to look forward to the possibilities of wars m the future, and to means of preventing such. wars. "If we wish to avoid a repetition of such catastrophes,'' said the great soldier, "we must be prepared! .actively to pi'event them, and must -know what course to pursue. Although, for a while they may Jie dormant, the passions from which war springs are not yet caged m the heart of man. The seeds of future conflict are to be found m every quarter of the globe. Unequal standards of living, wide differences of civilisation m different parts of the globe; and the economic pressure which must result tljerefrom ; racial and cojor antipathies — all these force me to the conclusion that struggles still more terrible are m store for this earth unless wise and " de^ cisive action is taken to rtmove the causes. . Among possibilities lof strife there is the problem, which newspapers and novelists have called the 'Yellow Peril,' and thereby; m the interests of sensationalism, have robbed it of its very real- claims to serious consideration. Our experience with th c Chinese labor m France has shown us that Chinamen, can labor as efficiently as, if not more efficiently than .the? best Euro, peart workmen, and with a persistence without rival. They' are content with a far 'smaller wage, accustomed to less food, and expect fewer comforts. The fact that, properly' handled, they can easily be led and trained to new tasks makes them the more .-formidable as competitors, providing that the directing i brains can be. found to organise their work. In China, too. vast coalfields] exist, sufficient to provide; .with ease; coal to met the -needs of >tW& whole worM ; for a thousand years. I have seen it stated; that m parts of .China the cost I of a ton of coal at the- pit mouth is Is 6d. Th« Chinese must eventually demand a, plaoe m the European labor market, competing with... our highly-paid labor and our infinitely higher standards of living. How is that' problem to be solved? Then, again, there is India, with a population of over 300,000.000 souls, dependent upon us for their future, nnd already beginning to turn towards social, political- and' industrial development. How are the natives of India to be controlled when the educT tional system m that country has expanded and carried them a "stage further on the upward road, along which, even now, we are ondeavoi'ing to guide them? I hold, that the tremendous problem is only capable of solution by giving to all races, however insignificant, what we proudly regard as British freedom and justice, and thereby m tho course, of many years levelling' them up to_ our own standard of life. Only by raising all other civilisations to the level of ours can we make it possible for us and them to live side by side m peace. Only m this way can the international rivalry be brought and confined withim the -limits of peace. Only thus can tho terrible pressure of economic competitions- bo prevented from driving whole continents into war. It is. I imagine, with something of this idea that an economic and industrial side has-been woven into the fabric of the League- .of Nations. If so, I welcome it as a step ia the right direction, but tho League of Nations can never absolve us from the mission,- that is laid upon us as members of .the British Empire to use for the betterment of mankind the unequalled oppoi'tunities that God has given us."