GERMAN COLONIES

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19913, 16 June 1936, Page 6

GERMAN COLONIES

The report of a strong demand by the Nazis for the return of the German colonies will probably not disturb the ohancellories of Europe. The Germans have never been a colonising nation—that is, under the German flag. In 1913 the total white population of the German colonies was set down at only 28,000 and of these 10,000 were non-German. In the spring of 1914 there were actually more Germans in Paris than in the colonies of the Reich combined, and there were over 14,000 in London. In New York the German population far outvnumbered the Germans resident in the overseas possessions under the Kaiser. Experts who know Africa well state that the former German possessions there could not maintain more than 100,000 whites at the maximum. There is also little real justification for the demand on the ground of density of population in the Republic population of England is set down at 742 per square mile and that of Germany at 347. The other claim, that Germany must have sources of supply of raw materials, is also of little value. The experience of the past few years has shown that the difficulty has not been to gain access to raw materials but to find a. market for them, and the terms of the mandates give all nations equal trading facilities. In the four years preceding the war Germany’s trade with her colonies accounted for less than one per cent. of her total trade. The best informed writers on German affairs hold that the demand is not really one of trade or population, but solely one of national prestige. Germany is claiming complete equality and that, in German eyes, includes colonies. 7