PEASE TREATY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12735, 3 September 1919, Page 3

PEASE TREATY.

RATIFICATION DISCUSSED, iTHE TREATY BEFORE THE HOUSE. FEW ZEALAND’S PROSPECTS OF REPARATION. [From Ora Conn espoxdf.xt . ] WELLINGTON, September 2. j 'The principal matter for considera- j tion of the House to-day was the prime. | Minister’s motion to the effect that tho | House of Representatives should ratily j the Peace Treaty, j Before it camo on Mr Russel! asked | the Prime Minister if he would eircu- j late as early us possible for the infer- j station of members all papers relating j to tlio Peace Treatv and. the mandate j of Samoa and the- island of Naum in order that members might acquaint themselves with- the proposals to bo | brought before them. He added tho | opinion that the Prime Minister would not desire that the only information obtainable by members should be that submitted by him in the course of any speech he might make. The House .would need time to digest the proposals before discussing and ratifying them. The Prime Minister replied that he would bo very glad to comply with the request as far as possible. He could eupply all the information regarding ! Samoa, but on different aspects of tho 1 Treaty and the various mandates there was an enormous amount of matter. There was one case full of papers dealing with the Peace Treaty and weighing over four hundredweight now on its way out. i Air Russell: How can the House rati- I fy the Treaty if it haa no treaty before | it? i The Prime Minister explained that the imperial Government considered the | ratification of the Treaty by the Domiu- | ions an urgent matter. I Mr Myers; Have any other Domiu- i ions ratified the Treaty? j Mr Massey; 1 think Canada is about: to"call a special session of Parliament! for the_ purpose. .1 don’t know about Australia, but I know they have all been asked. SPARRING FOR TIME. “ A most serious mistake was made, 1 think, at the time of the armistice.” said ‘Mr Massey. “ 1. am quite certain if we bad carried on-until our troops were in German territory we should have had very, little difficulty in getting the Germans to agree quickly to anything we wished to impose upon them, but as time went on. the Germans adopted a go-slow policy. They saw that the longer they delayed the signing of the Peace. Treaty .the better it was. for them and the .worse for us. I beard it asserted, indeed, that if the Germans delayed signing long enough, instead of the Allied nations asking for an indemnity from Germany the posiwould ba reversed and. Germany TT m ’d be asking an indemnity, from ml 'That delay favoured them has avow been amply proved.” HUN COMPETITION. Uhe Prime Minister contrasted the devastation in Belgium* and northern Kraiicc with the undisturbed condition *i p^ rman T’ s "iudustries, pointing out Hiat Germany now was so well prepared." industrially, as a result of its systematic policy of spoliation for the benefit of its own industries, that it could become a. very severe competitor in supplying goons to the world, especially m view of the general industrial unrest which had prevailed m Allied countries since the armistice. r ESCAPING CONSEQUENCES. The Prime Munster, in discussing the or .Nations, expressed the con- j .vicfciQn fiat it would not do to be lulled lino a false sense of security by tho formation of the league. Hundreds of millions of .people understood force as 1 he only argument. The league needed many important amendments, and the of the world to establish it satisfactorily, and meanwhile he was satisfied that Britain, above all tilings, should retain a strong navy. As to the question whether Germany was to escape punishment, if they were certain that Germany s a-wful offences would not be repeated, well and good, perhaps, but they had not done with. Germany. He bad little belief ui the boasted regeneration of Germany, and a wholesome deterrent was necessary both to Genuauy and any possible imitators of her methods. A matter, ho thought, in which the Conference had cone wrong was in tho decision that the beads of.States were not punishable for their crimes in a criminal court. People should understand that the Kaiser would not be tried for criminal offences, but for offences against the laws of nations, so that he could not lie hanged or shot or put into gaol, no matter what atrocities were proved against him. It might be possible to put him on an island. Air Hornsby: Put him on Devil’s Island. Mr Massey; I think that a wrong lias been done here. As a matter of Tact, officers under the Kaiser will he tried before a criminal court, yet the Kaiser, who is directly responsible, for many atrocities, is going to escape punishment for his crimes- I say ii, Is not right. PROBABLY £10,000,000. On the subject of indemnities, or, rather reparation, the Prime Minister ottered an interesting opinion to the •Mouse, He explained that he did not know what New Zealand’s share of thereparation might be. it would probably he based on pensions paid to soldiers and dependents owing to the war. Be added; “1 would make a guess and say our payment will not he less than ten millions. This will, under the peace terms, be spread over; a period of thirty years at 5 per cent. x Our liability for pensions is about two millions per annum, which capitalised would amount to something like £25.000,000, so that by getting £10.000.000 we gel something less than half our pension liability, extending, of course, over a long timed' A STUPENDOUS ACHIEVEMENT. Sir Joseph Ward said that the Peace Conference had a stupendous tack which bail to fall largely on the representatives of six Great Powers- Tin; great work of that conference, with its many ramifications, revolved around these men. Tim House could not alter the Treaty, and it was of great importance that all parts of the British Empire should unanimously endorse it. New Zealand ought to iio proud ot haying been associated with decisions which would affect •humanity fur ail time. The greatest work done was the creation of a League of Nations. Sir Joseph expressed the belief that within two years Germany would be admitted within the League of Nations. With all its apparent shortcomings the livings which had been accomplished by the conference constituted iin almost unbelievable achievement. Germany had been stripped of ail her possessions and reduced- to military impotence for many a_ day. Ho contended before leaving New Zealand for the conference .'that we should have ton for ton for ehii>s' destroyed, that wo should collar : Heligoland, and that the Kaiser should tjvay the penalty of Ida crimes with his ijjfe. i Weil, /the Kaiser .I;ad escaped with his life but Heligoland' was tu be destroyed by German labour. j A: FINANCIAL DOUCHE. :■ Turning to the financial aspect Sir ’Joseph Ward; warned the country not to place much hope of early indemnity jmymjmts. ■ Before the ten millions mentioned by the Prime Minister as Sikcly : to, be, allotted to New Zealand ias a pension charge would be paid Gerj’mauy had to find over five thousand millions sterling for preferential claims, land, in ten or fifteen years Germany’s •financial resources would be reviewed before .further payments were made, ; : wV y jyg ; '■

Lver.vou • knew how short was the wor.d s memory and . with iho hfe i n -‘ miences .working m Germany's bolu.lt j ten or hi toon years hence who could 1 say wha,: would happen and how much i m our ten millions we should ever ac-! tually receive? * j LABOUR MEM BER'S VIK W. / Mr Holland said he proposed to rive i lea sons wny the Labour members 0 of ; tue House could, urn, fall in wirii the : ' lew tuat the Treaty should he- unaui- ; ratified. He complained of tee' manner in which the House was beirm i asked to ratily a Treatv which ir neve'r ; had.seen and about which it had to rck 1 endrm.v on 1 hr .-.Latcmcnt of two r emlo- | men « no \\ cm Horn this coumrv. sta to- I nients whir,, mold not wholly' he nr-* lor oven they iind no't agreed. ( •IP mud,y o isc a sard Nauru, which. he! ■ -M'-. ( .m cm' (ho n hojp of tho ' remner s .-pcedi. Hr favoured iho I manoatory system. but thought Samoa i should uoi nave boon placed under the j control of sow Zealand, but under the l • a-,ty"r oi Aaimus, wuidi was much ! i.mie ■ Ten (o treat the native race • wtl, .insure Mr then proceeded to, anaK.-c at icuylh the basic causes of ' the war, inr the purouse of sdmwiim ! that no otic arm was responsible for ! the. Urea I. War, which was dm; almost 1 entirely to capitalistie ii-fluence,:. The i League oi Naiiuus. as constituted was most un.iust, brine dominated hv live Powers, and if Hermany and isussi;, snould come in later ihev '.ould have to take a. position eoua. only to Siam or Peru. Pccwie had said a over again would we trade vrilh Germany. Hie men who killed riir sons, but the Treaty -was a traders 5 treaty, as was elearlv shown bv Sir doseph Yarn's speech. So far ' from bovcoumg German 'trade, we were competing Germany io trade with us. Did anyone pretend that the Shantung set-, tlement, under Avnich that- great maritime province was handed to .1 a pan. vya-s just? To China, and no one else snonuu that territory have hern given, hut the history of that province was simply a sorry scram We between the tradin'! _ countries of Europe. He Drought it a good thing that conscription should he abolished in Germany and idle German navy should go out. It would lie a bettor thing if conscription went out all over the world and there were no longer navies anywhere. He did nob bedieve. that, the financial conditions of the Treaty 'were possible, but it they were the indemnities received would he more disastrous to those I who received them than to the Ger- I mans, because the whole financial pro- | pos.-iL: were, economically unsound- Tt ; was mo.se unjust for the crimes of the | military class to punish the German. I people. who never enjoyed the fran-j .’ip’ ;m '! whoso ruling class M-as offi- 1 (■iMily welooTiifr] hy iho British public j and British Press. He lord no hope • t-hat inc Peace Treaty would bring j peace. " ’ j Mr I - Fraser declared that no one non pretended that tho great war was- I a war to etui war. Mr Tdoyd George j ha-d declared that the Allies were not i against idle German people or the Turkis.h nation, hut by secret treaties made t-be war .started it was shown that the Allies were prepared to carve up the map of .Europe in such a, way as to leave no guarantee of security to srivalf nations. Ho quoted tho opinions of editors and others to show that the terms of the T realy would defeat their own ends, because it was the most cornpreheuMve document of punishment ever placed on record. The. principle of srif-detp,rmination was violated in every direction by the Treaty, and tho only solution for the problems wins promisor! by organised labour. OTHER SPEAKERS. Mr Edward Newman said tiiat until ho heard the speeches of tho Labour I members that night he never had heard anyone express dissatisfaction at the work dorm by Mr Massey and Sir Joseph YVard at the Peace Conference. He. therefore, tho right that those members were quite out of touch, wit-h too opinion of the people of this country. He thought jba.t it would have been better if Samoa had been placed under the control of Britain, but he warmly approved the League, of Nations. Mr Wilford declared that had tho' League of Nations been in existence on August 4, 1911, the great war could nob have happened, because before. Austria, attacked Serbia, Serbia could have applied to the great Allied tribunal. That; was the solution of the great interna- | tkmal problems, and the contention that this solution would come through i organised labour or organised Socialism, j wan “ tripod' i At 11.13 p.m. the Speaker put the [ question, and the motion was carried on the voices.