A DUTCH DILEMMA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11595, 13 January 1916, Page 7

A DUTCH DILEMMA.

PRO-BRITISH SENTIMENT OR

GERMAN MONEY.

(JAMES DUNN, in London "Badly Mail.")

When good smugglers die they will come to Holland. Smuggling «^ su fioded skating as a pastime. Like the Irish of the 'eighties, everybody here is "agin the Government 1 ' when it comes to making profit from the sale of proscribed articles. Guilder (the standard Dutch com, worth about Is 7d) millionaires are being made every month, and. the Dutch commercial grace before deals is. "For what the Germans are about to receive may the Lord make us truly 'thankful." Let me say at once that the Dutch Government and the overworked Dutch Customs officers are not to blamo for the new national sin. Thousands of smugglers havo been arrested, yet thousands more spring up in their places. Urged by love of gain and aided by German emissaries, Dutchmen, big and little, are all taking a hand in this fascinating game of " feed my neighbour." Intellectual and moral leaders of the Dutch nation have perceived the moral danger of the smuggling mania, and writing on " The Moral Danger on the Frontier" the " Nieuwe Courant" of Rotterdam remarks: "There is no doubt but that the smuggling on the •frontier is being actively promoted and encouraged on the other side. Bureaux h%ve even been organised where all fraudulently exported; goods are received and*paid tor in cash. The few guilders fine which may be incurred does not outweigh the enormous profits made in this way. Often groups ,of j thirty to fifty persons carry their wares | in broad daylight to the three hundred yards forbidden zone and wait a favourable opportunity to pass during the night. "An important question is that of the moral results of the present position for the population of the frontier regions and part of the military. Some posts on the frontiers bring enormous piofits to the Landwehr men and Militia guarding them. Sharg action should be taken against this, as an important army interest is at stake. As other places it is the rural population which should be placed under severe control before they become used to the lucrative smuggling business. "Workmen have taken a dislike to working because they can make plenty of money at smuggling, and whole families devote themselves to the new business. Part of the population is here threatened by moral degeneracy, the consequences of which will be felt long after the war. It is the hand of a Government that must be felt along the entire frontier; not a linger hero and there." A CHOICE OF BARGAINS.

Strong language, hut language entirely justified by the facts. Money is being made easily in Holland to-day. I am writing this article in a cafe thronged with men whose fortunes have. been more than trebled during the last nine months. v Uncouth farmers, rough in dress and dour in bring heavy wads of notes to olinch deals; sin-art business men who a year ago had to search for bargains now sit at ease and tak,o their choice. A year ago the overage Dutchman carried a purse and thought in pennies; now he carries a cheque-book and thinks in hundred-guilder notes. Myself I have seen men rise from an ill-paid dependence to a comfortable independence. 'One such a man a- year ago was working for fifteen shillings a week. Last week the same man was -offering £250 for a permit" to "enable" him to transport a waggonload of sa-us-I ages across the frontier. I have not the slightest doubt that he would get his permit, for a great trade is being done in these licenses to trade, which, issued before prohibition was enforced, are eiastio enough to meet any date or requirement. Hundreds stories, some romantic, the majority sordid, have been told of. smuggling. _ Petrol secreted in tombstones and in cement building blocks, ojL poured down a well in Holland and transmitted through pipes into Germany are some of the larger operations, while in petty operations the artifices«of men and the cunning of women are employed in a thousand different ways to trick officers of the Dutch Customs. Of course, if it were not for the active aid of the \ German frontier guard smuggling would cease to be a profitable occupation of the one-time Dutch poor. Although strict measures have been taken by the Dutch military authorities to put down smuggling, the smuggler knows how to slip through the meshes of the law, and hundreds of persons of both sexes and all ages are conveying bags of rice, flour, malt and other foodstuffs to-a Weight of two kilograms (about 4£lb) over the frontier, there being no penalty against such quantities. At night, however, the smugglers are more impudent and venture along unfrequented ways, with much larger quantities. Recently a party of eight men, loaded with rice, tried to cross the Belgian frontier near Huibergen. The guard and the officials were at their post, however, with tho result that the smugglers were halted. One, a married man, and a father of five children, seeking to escape, was hit by a bullet, and he is not expected to recover. ENGLISH ENJOY, GERMANS ENDURE.

The Dutch Courts are filled with smuggling cases, Dutch comic papers publish skits on smuggling, smuggling stories are told in every cafe. Behind the native greed of gain is the German agent, tempting, here, advising there. Behind the scenes in big business firms or pulling off trumpery deals in candles, soap or waste paper, the German agent is paramount in Holland. For more than a year I have lived in Holland and never have I seen so many German men of business as I see to-day. The German commercial traveller is everywhere trying to sell anything. But it is the Dutchman's pocket, not his heart, that is touched by the German appeal. Sentimentally the Dutchman is not so much pro-English as anti-German. He neither trusts nor loves the German, but so strong are the bonds of trade and so close are the ties of mutual profit that the Dutchman will forget his prejudices if he can fill his purse. Apart from business instincts the Dutchman is more than willing to turn a kindly ear to the English call.