THE GERMAN REPTILE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 45, Issue 13752, 3 February 1919, Page 5

THE GERMAN REPTILE.

NOT YET KILLED.

CAPTAIN SIEVWRIGHT 5 S VIEWS.

Writing from Lille, Captain A. B. Sievwright says he had the pleasure of meeting some business men of that city. A manufacturer living in Lille, who had factories in Armentieres, visited his places as soon as he could after the Hun had been driven out. Every one of his weaving looms had been destroyed systematically by smashing them in a vulnerable part; his power engines had been dynamited, and his chimney stacks blown down. He was most bitter, and summed up what he lut<l to say by exclaiming: "I consider the German nation is a reptile which has not yet been killed." It reminded me, said Captain Sievwright, of Shakespeare'", phrase: "We have scotched the snake, not killed it."

Then he concludes: "The peace terms will have to be made such as to give ample reparation to Belgium and Northern France; otherwise the criminal will escape, and will ultimately be in a better economic condition than England or France. There are some things for which reparation cannot be exacted, but nothing short of the last farthing posBible will be sufficient."

Captain Sievwright's views are certainly a reflex of every intelligent soldier's opinion on the question of reparation and indemnities.