POST-WAR PROBLEMS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16266, 17 July 1918, Page 7

POST-WAR PROBLEMS.

IMPORTANT SPEECHES BY DOMINION MINISTERS. (By Cable.—Pto*« Association. —Cop7rtel»W (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Received July 16th, 7.20 p.m.) LOXDON, July 15. The British Empire League gave a luncheon to Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward at Claridge's Hotel. Mr Massey said thai though the problems of the war were not yet solved, it was not too soon to begin dealing with the problems of peace. The citizens of the Empire had upheld their dignity and prestige in time of war, and would do so in time of peaceMr Massey said he feared German intrigue more than German force of arms. There must be an increaso in Empire production in order to bear the financial burdens, also considerable emigration should be encouraged. It should be the duty of legislators to encourage the working up of raw materials, and prevent unfair competition by our enemies. Much would have to be done to improve communications between different parts of the Empire. Labour and Capital must work more harmoniously. He favoured profitsharing. It was possiblo that in this war we were stronger than the enemy in every department. The Allies would not be influenced by enemy threats over Belgium. They had made up their minds to win, however long the war | lasted.

Sir Joseph Ward said he disagreed with those who thought it premature to discuss possible peace terms. If the nation knew why it went to war, then logically it must bo able to decide what its peace terms would be. An uneasy suspicion had been aroused that the Gorman Pacific islands might be the subject of negotiation at the Peace Conference. The New Zealand delegates came to England with a positive mandate that the public would never tolerate handing back Samoa. Under no circumstances must any such thing occur. It.was unthinkable that Germany would ever again get a footl e in the Pacific, where she was an interloper from the first. If such a calamity were to befall us the bonds of Empire would be brought to the Btraining point. The people of the Motherland should understand the Dominion's viewpoint, and should realise that this was no "stand and deliver" freak, but an expression of deep-seated conviction upon a definite ideal", which had been cultivated for half a century, often in the teeth of scant sympathy or encouragement from the Imperial authorities. He hoped this sublime indifference to the importance of the ownership of a few small islands in the Pacific would disappear for ever. How British people view the occupation by Germany of the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Hebrides, or the Orkneys? In 1890 England failed to realise the value of Heligoland, and waa there anyone to-day who approved of the cession of Heligoland? The answer to that question justified on our part our, case in regard to German possessions in the Pacific. Germany would never have been there but for the masterly negligence of the British statesmen regarding those ' overseas possessions. He disliked the German methods of colonisation and treatment of native races; also, because the instincts of German ambition were a standing menace to our security.