The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1936. BELGIUM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 142, 17 June 1936, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1936. BELGIUM

'pilE claim that Belgium is being- disturbed by Nazi influence should be regarded but not readily accepted. Belgium is in a condition of transition, and in the transformations which have gone on in Europe that transition has sometimes been very painful for the Belgian people. Chief among their grievances is the transference of freights which once went through the Port of Antwerp to the French port of Dunkirk, When the Germans owned Alsace and Lorraine the export of coal from that area went through the Port of Antwerp, but since the transference of those two provinces to the French that trade has been transferred to Dunkirk, while French railways carry freights from this district to Italy where formerly it was subject of rail and sea carriage, the Belgian port of Antwerp handling the traffic. Belgium may have been a good ally of France, but she feels that she has Jost economically by the association. Recently when Belgium was striving to maintain itself on the gold standard it felt that it could have received more assistance from France. France, however, was more free with advice than it was with aid. It is not surprising, therefore, that during a period of stress that the natural division of the population should become accentuated. It is not generally recognised that the population of Belgium consists of at least two main ethnic types, the Flemings, who are of the Teutonic branch of the European family, and the Walloons, who arc part of the Celtic stock from the Alpine districts. These two types are to be found in distinelive districts, roughly speaking the North being Flemish and extending to a little below Brussels, from whence to the South the Walloons dominate. The Flemings are Nordic stock with the usual characteristics of this branch of the human family, and they have a kinship with Holland in language and literature. In 1910, 3,220,662 spoke Flemish only; 2,833,334 French only (including Walloon); 31,415, German only; 871,288, Flemish and French: 74.993, French and German; 8652, Flemish and German; and 52,547 spoke all three languages. French has become the cultural language, but the strong ethnic block of Germanic people is a foundation for any movement to revert to the constitution of the Low Countries with the Netherlands Government at its head. This movement lias certainly been fanned by French economic policy, and it is only confusing the issues to stress that underground machinations of Nazis are the cause of the present rift. The rift has always been there, but French policy has widened it: it would be asking too much of Germany, in her present condition and situation, not to exploit the opening which the French themselves have made.