Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1929. RHINELAND EVACUATION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 11 October 1929, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Over 50 Years.] FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1929. RHINELAND EVACUATION.

Few people will refrain from rejoicing with the German people at the news that, as far as Great Britain is concerned, the evacuation of the Rhineland has begun, and will be completed before the end of the year. The army of occupation entered the Rhine towns eleven years ago, and at that time Germany, though chafing at sucli a blow to her pride, was sanguine that the day of release would not be as long as the Allies had laid down. Her hopes were raised by the Locarno Pact, in which the provisions for the demilitarisation of . the Rhineland were voluntarily renewed by Herr Stresemann, and by her admission to the League of Nations three years ago. But the hour of decision was relentlessly postponed, even though Sir* Austen Chamberlain made it apparent that Britain would welcome a move by the other Powers towards total withdrawal. Opinion in France stood in the way. It was always M. Poincare’s hard rule to demand positive guarantees, a policy which led the French to invade the Ruhr. With unswerving patriotism he thought always in terms of France, and not often of Europe as a whole. The result was a continued, if submerged, bitterness in Germany, which naturally resented the presence of foreign troops on her own soil. In recent times, Germany having been admitted on terms of equality with the other nations to the council table of Europe, the occupation became a danger to the peace of the world, and induced the German people to argue that for them the war was not over until evacu-

ation had been accomplished. It was not surprising, therefore, that Dr. Stresemann made a statement) before the Reparations Confer-' ence met at The Hague, postulating the evacuation of the Rhineland as a preliminary for a satisfactory settlement. His challenge was accepted, apparently -with a show of readiness by M. Briand, and with alacrity by Mr Arthur Henderson, whose ambition it has been to see the last British soldier leave German soil during his term at the Foreign Office. Within the next few months the last vestiges of the occupation, and, incidentally, of the Great War will have been removed from the Rhine country, where the sight of uniformed foreigners has for years been a constant reminder of the period of the conflict.