Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a Century.] MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 1914. THE GERMAN COLONIES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 11882, 19 January 1914, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a Century.] MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 1914. THE GERMAN COLONIES.

Thoro is probably no declaration concerning Germany which has a more familiar sound for us than the assertion that she requires colonies, and the statement has indeed been made the basis for most of the current theories of Anglo-German antagonism. It is no doubt true enough in one sense, for the population of the German Empire increases rapidly, and it is said that not less than fifteen million Germans reside at the present time outside the German Empire, and thuß represent a serious economic loss for the Fatherland. But such "colonial" possessions as Germany can boast at the present time cannot be said to have proved a success, and this appears to be due not so much to the Germans themselves (for they have proved very good colonists under British rule) as to the peculiar bureaucratic system under which they are administered. The somewhat pessimistic lecture which, according to a cable message published on Thursday, was delivered a few days ago by Professor Bonn, of Munich before the Royal Colonial Institute in London on this subject, will servo' to remind a good many people of the opinion of Bismarck that Germany did not-require colonies and would be better without them. Tho greatest of the Imperial

Chancellors clearly foresaw the difficulties which: "colonial" possessions would create for the Empire, and he was from the first opposed to any policy likely to; involve Germany in fresh entanglements.

It. ! will', of r course, be Understood that such "colonies" as Germany possesses are not colonies in the sense in which tho word is taken by British people They aro protectorates — "Schut-zgc-biete "-—and are all administered from home by the German Colonial Office, which, as wo pointed out some time ago, when giving some account of, the way in which the German Empiro is governed, is technically a branch of the office of the Imperial Chancellor. No such thing as self-government is dreamed of in the German colonies, which arc situated chiefly in the tropics, for Germany came much too late upon the scene to secure any of the rich places of the earth for the purpose of colonial expansion along, British lines. The German "colonies" at present consist of Togo and Kamerun,. on the west coast of Africa, near the Equator; South-West Africa (where diamonds have lately been discovered); German East Africa, wedged between British and Portuguese territory; part of New Guinea, known as Kaiser Wilhelm Land; tho Carolines and Bismarck Archipelago; Samoa, and the port of Kiautschou in China. It is not a very promising list, and the failure of the bureaucratic system in those regions does not tend to increase the comfort of the averago Gorman when ho reflects upon tho«fact that of all those parts of tho globe outside Europe where German organisation, German enterprise, and German money have beeu most successfully invested, not one is within tho confines of tho Empire.

Professor Bonn explains the failure of the German colonial system in his own way ,and he does not seek to mince matters. He told his audience that Germany had only spent £70,----000,000 on her colonies in a period of twelve years, and had merely scratched the surface, so to speak. Tho real problem was the position of the chartered companies, which had failed owing to their ludicrously small capital. Referring to mistakes that had beeu made —mistakes of policy in colonial administration, —the Professor said that Germany had protected her home agriculture even against the. competition of her colonies, and she wanted to create daughter States in South Africa similar to those in Australia and Canada. The result was a huge native rising, costing twenty millions. Germany then sought to assume the functions of Providence, and tried to exterminate the natives, whom the lack of wisdom goaded to rebellion. Professor Bonu pointed out that one of the difficulties which had beset successful colonial administration had been the necessity of developing Germany itself at the same time as the colonies. He appears to be of the opinion that "the causes retarding colonial development are fast disappearing," but he adds that tho policy of sending white settlers to the German colonies has been abandoned and we fancy that most Britishers will feel more inclined to the opinion that the bureaucratic, system is fatal to successful colonial .development. As ono authority puts it, "it is perhaps not altogether certain that German emigrants and German capital would flow even to the rich places of the earth if they were administered on the German domestic, plan. It is possible in fact," he adds, "that German emigration is partly encouraged by tho desire to find countries where bureaucratic organisation is less perfect, where the State is less important, and where the individual counts a little, more. " ,