The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1934. THE DOLLFUSS DILEMMA.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20231, 15 February 1934, Page 8

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1934. THE DOLLFUSS DILEMMA.

npHE STATEMENT by the British Labour Party that the necessity for defending Austria’s independence has been made the excuse for destroying the Parliamentary democracy of the Austrian working class is largely true, for to combat the growth of Nazi prestige Dollfuss formulated a policy to out-Hitler Hitler by anticipating Nazi reforms. Curiously enough, he became an Austro-Fascist dictator through the absurd mistake of a Socialist deputy who used the wrong voting slip in a critical division. This error created such confusion in the House that all three Speakers of the Assembly resigned. Dollfuss, having then no one to call another session, realised that fate had played into his hands. He announced that Parliament had done away with itself and that he would govern by decree. Since then he has set in motion machinery for the making of a new constitution, and provided himself with a Cabinet designed to concentrate power in his own hands. Dollfuss considers that his mission is to save Austria as an independent State. But the nationalist policy of Germany has made many friends in Austria, particularly in the Tyrol, the scene of very active Hitler propaganda. Indeed, in Styria, the theatre of much of the present fighting, the Heimwehr some months ago declared itself for the Nazis. Had Dollfuss been able to maintain the former apparent stalemate between Nazi and Socialist forces the present crisis might have been avoided, but the Socialists, driven underground by severe repression, adopted force, the only course open to them in the absence of a Parliament. Dollfuss places his faith in the Heimwehr, but Prince Starhemberg, the leader of the Heimwehr, is known to have Nazi sympathies and rival ambitions for the Chancellorship, and it now looks as if the Austrian dictator will fall by a trick of fortune almost as sudden as that which elevated hirrj to supremacy. EARTHQUAKE PERILS. ■■-DISAPPOINTMENT at the Government’s failure to proceed with the proposed safer-building legislation as a protection against earthquakes has been expressed by several local bodies in the North Island, and the protests were strongly supported last evening by members of the Christchurch Town Planning Institute. The Government’s inaction is apparently due to pressure from organisations that have not been directly affected by past disasters. They fear that excessive expenditure would result if the building regulations issued by proclamation after the Napier earthquake were applied as a national code to the whole of New Zealand, and prefer to go on taking needless risks. It is a stupid and defenceless attitude. The cost of safer building to meet earthquake perils might, in some cases, prove a strain on finance, but the damage and loss thereby averted would be six or ten times greater. That, in brief, was the lesson so tragically taught in Hawke s Bay three years ago. WALKING A TIGHTROPFI-

T ABOUR MEMBERS of the House of Commons apparently do not appreciate the difficulties facing the National Government in its efforts to establish a feeling of peace in Europe. There lias been further bitter criticism recently concerning ineffectual disarmament and the concessions advocated by Sir John Simon to conciliate Germany. The Foreign Minister was accused by one critic of supporting rule by force rather than rule by law. The truth of the matter is that neither Sir John Simon nor the British Government has any power, other than a threat of war or trade boycott, to compel even the smallest European Power to talk or act less aggressively. Downing Street must step warily to achieve the maximum amount of disarmament obtainable.