The Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1919.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 11761, 22 February 1919, Page 4

The Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1919.

WE must confess wa anticipate a gcod deal of IrtmMe in Poland. getting Germany to agree to the fell extent cf the terms on which the new Polish Republic is created. According to

one of President Wilson’s fourteen points, nationalities have a right of self-determination and of an access to the sea. Poland in oil days before the first partition in 1772 extended to the sea sc Dantzic, and this snip of territory cut the province of East Prussia off from the rest of the Prussian Kingdom. The present German Government are apparently insisting on the complete observance of the fourteen points to which thsy say they agreed as a basis of peace negotiations. If this provision relating to sea access is insisted on we sea ahead a great deal of matter for worry. The latest cables tell us that the Prussian arms are being turned against the[_Polea,and one of the knotty points before the Allies is the coercion of Germany to the Polish claims. Judging by its past history Poland is not an easy country to govern. The aristocratic oligarchy winch directed affairs in the 17th and ISth centuries is now replaced by a democratic party, and the latter is proverbially difficult to deal with in foreign affairs. In the 15th and IGth centuries Poland was the most powerful kingdom in Europe and extended over the centre plains, including Wallachia, Livonia, Lithuania, Galicia, Posen and East Prussia The Polish people are outnumbered in most of these provinces now, bat enough remain in the centre of old Poland ta erect a very strong Stite as a buffer between; Germany and the Basi. We are afraid that the Germans will fight and scheme against this, and we are sure that there will ha a great deal of diplomacy required on the part of the League of Nations before the matter is settled.

THE new scheme for Oadet training

Cadet Training.

has been outlined by Colonel Sleemau, of the

General S f aff, and is the subject of a good deal of controversy. The new features consist in a few months’ continuous training in camp instead of afternoon or evening drills scattered through the year. Experience has shown that continuous training has a verv beneficial effect on the physique and' general health of the yenng men who go through the course. The fact that so many men who were classed as C2 then selected and sent to the Cl camp, there to be converted into'fit men, is conclusive proof of the benefits obtained. And in addition to this there is the educative training it curried oufc ? as we are sure it w?U be, of the mind and the knowledge of the world which can only be got by mixture with a crowd. We do not fear, a lowering of the moral tone from such training; Indeed, wo very much expect that good will result as from the experience of the training camp of the Expeditionary Force, we find that the influences of the better class of recruits is beneficiel and helped the teaching of chaplains and others very considerably. Aa regaids the financial aspect the Ipss to business from, the removal of boys of 16 and 17' will be Quite immaterial. We earnestly hope that the project will be adopted.