The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1918. BRITISH POLITICAL SCANDAL.

Taihape Daily Times, 22 February 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1918. BRITISH POLITICAL SCANDAL.

(With which is Incorporated The Taihapo Post and Waitsarino News)..

d After those -scenes which) have re ceutly taken place in the Brtisii House of Commons wo in this far dis , tant part of the Empire are inclined t< wonder how deeply the enemy sp] system has contaminated the verj fount of British justice and govern meat. It has been shown that a Brit ish war correspondent, cither deliber atcly or with am extreme crimina ■ carelessness, compiled a tissue of lies ■' and exaggerationss concerning the wai policy and war management of hh country for which, had he been Gcr man instead of- British he would hav< been deservedly shot. His lying fab ideation was offered to the Londor Times, but Lord Northcliffe had hac ample experience of the man of very questionable intent. It was this same correspondent, Repington, who furnished the alleged information that landed the whole Northcliffe press in . to the muddy waters of a nation’s dis gust and contempt. The same man who, with his counterfeit war news, has on several occasions caused political trouble : at most critical stages of the war. No spy in the German Em- . poror’s service has a greater claim to his patronage and recognition than Repington, and no other British war !’ correspondent possesses those Prussian » proclivities so strong that he dare indulge in such treasonable acts. The London Times would have no more of 1 the Repington lies, and he went over • to the pro-German Daily Chronicle, the • representative journal of the army of ■ pacifists, who would immediately cease the war and leave the world to the mercy of Hindenburg and the Kaiser, two of the most hideous blood-curdling | monstrosities the world has any knowledge of; to men before whom Nero and the Duke of Alva pale into insignificance. Such arc the men, however, to whom the pacifists of England ,and the Daily Chronicle, would traitorously hand over the British people and the rest of the world now fighting for their freedom. The concocted verbiage of Repington, published by the Chronicle, like the lying of Prussians, was too outrageous for even pacifists or pro-Germans in the British Parliament to whole-heartedly support. They knew that their advocacy of the Repington lies would indelibly brand them as friends of Britain’s enemy and they hesitated. All the dispicable and hateful cunning of fthe Prussian was evident in the story and it was rendered more heinous because j it was calculated to either compel the British Prime Minister to divulge in- ! formation about the Versailles Coun- I eil which was of supremely vital value ! to Germany, or maintain a silence and ' ’ allow the Repington lies to do their ' dastardly work. What should the I military and civil law of the Empire ' provide in the nature of punishment 1 for such deeply dyed, double-edged j treachery? Repington and the Chronicle arc being prosecuted, but it seems to us that Repington,, with the rank of a British colonel, should be courtmartialled and shot with as little delay as possible, and the newspaper should be suppressed. The British Prime Minister was virtually accused, on the eve what is regarded as the battle that is to decide the world’s ■ future with dismissing, turning out, J

Britain’s chief military commanders, and with, taking,. political control, branding Lloyd George as a traitor of an unspeakable kind, and the accused Premier could not speak with-

out falling into the trap laid for him; to have spoken then would have justly laid him open to be charged as a traitor himself, but fthe time came for him to speak and the whole world is aghast at the criminal audacity of so-called Britishers in their efforts to assist the enemy cause. From his place in Parliament Mr_ Lloyd George laid the cunningly prepared Prussian scheme bare, and not a Member of the House dare say another word; they had, from ex-Premier Asquith down to Socialist Henderson, been deceived so thoroughly by the Eepington Chronicle lies that they had not a word to say in reply after the House was in possession of the truth. Simmered right down, the case the British Prime Minister had to deal with was, he

had to decide between the unanimous resolution of the Versailles Council, in 1 which all Allies wore represented, on i one side, and Sir William Robertson 'on the other. The Council had dcj cidod upon a course providing for a

command that would operate over all forces; Sir William put himself in direct opposition to this Council’s unanimous decision, and advocated a

course that would have made *'liim

little short of military dictator. Of course, none of Britain’s Allies would agree to anything of the kind, and as

Robertson would not come to any other

decision, Mr. Lloyd George had cither flout the Allies, and the Versailles Council’s determinations, or transfer Sir William Robertson’s services. None but the insane and pro-Germans could have done other than what Mr. Lloyd George did under the circumstances. The crisis is over, the House loudly applauded the Prime Minister, political parties voted absolute and unanimous confidence in him, still the chagrin of the friends of Britain’s enemy is visible. One journal accuses Britain of swapping horses in the biggest crisis of the war, when the stream was deepest and the night darkest_ No responsible Britisher with honest intentions could have accepted the alternative that Lloyd George refused; it was a choice between one man and the whole of Britain’s Allies... What would the Repingtons and .Chronicles and, the whole world have said had Robertson been chosen, and the Allies rejected? We believe the crisis is at hand that will still the tongues of British- pro-Germans for ever. The time is near when, from fear of the British people, their pens and tongues will be put to.rest and the name of Rcpington will become a by-word for treachery. Had the machinations of these men succeeded it would have caused an appalling increase in the slaughter of our men, but what do these cold-blooded invertebrates care so long as their world-dominion schemes are successful.