"WAR IS FOOLISH"

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1182, 18 July 1911, Page 6

"WAR IS FOOLISH"

GERMAN AIMS. COMMERCE AND NOT CONQUEST, Nono more strongly insist upon tho eminently peaceful nature of German intentions than those citizens of the Fatherland, numerous nowadays, who travel abroad, intent on making the ways of commerce smooth and opening up new avenues of trade. To this class belongs Mr. !■'., M. A. Wenk-Wolff, a German merchant now making an extended stay in New Zealand. In common with tho rest of his class, ho speaks of war as a thing to bo shunned, and he backs his utterance by pointing to the weighty fact that in tho event of a great war the structure of German foreign commerce, now being laboriously built up, would crumble into dust.

Germany, according to Sir. Wenk-Wolff, (loos not want war. "1 think," hn tolil a Dominion representative, "that New Zealand should step to tho fame tunu as they do at Home. Thcso bonds of commercial relationship are drawing England and Germany closer.together in bonds of friendship every day." Germans, ho went on. to remark;-are'. building up a'large, trade with Kew. Zealand. They want to bring .their goods out here, and it would Dp a. pity if the growth nf .1 trade, conferring' mutual benefit, should bo hindered by mistaken notions about German national ambition. " '"War is foolish," said Mr. AYeuk-Wolff with conviction. "If wo went to war ; »'ilh, another nation, that would mean, in •She end, that it. would be bankrupt, and we would be bankrupt too. Some people think that because we have a big army we must mean war. That is foolish, too. Look at our geographical position; we are surrounded by strongly-armed neighbours; we have extended frontiers to guard, and wi> uiiKt have soldiers on the frontiers. For our part, wo recognise that England must havo tho strongest sea-power in the world, because it is a sea country. Wo arc, a continental country, with big frontiers, and we must havo a big army. "Very many of tho French people," Mr. Wenk-Wolff continued, "think that sooner or later they must have revengo on Germany for what happened during the Franco-Prussian War. 1 think that is a most silly thing. For centuries, while Germany of to-day was a collection of weak States, it was over-run by French armies. Then Oleic was Xapoleon. Ho nearly rubbed tho country out! Germany had only a little revenue. When hot armies were at Paris they could liava. razed it to the ground,-bat they spared Mr. Wonk-Wolff declared that Germany had earned her position among the great. Powers, as other countries had done, by warliks prowess. Having thus earned her place, she was now bent on maintaining it in peace. Tho army, he contended, apart from its necessity, hod a certain, social value. Men, in general, were proud of having served in tho army, and it taught tliem the value of discipline and of being ready to obey a properly-constituted authority. . ...

As to the political state'of his country. ■Mr. Wenk-Wolff looks to a slow and steady clevplopmont. The agrarian nnil clerical parlies, be thinks, I may continue to hold the reins of government for tho next' thirty or forty years, but their power is being sle-wly undermined. Tho progressive sentiment of the country finds expression in the Hansa Burd, ii political league of merchants and manufacturers, formed a few years ago, which is steadily gaining ground. Jfr. Wenk-Wolff does not. look forward to any momentous politie.il change in the near future, but ho thinks that ultimately the commercial classes, possibly in league with the Social Uemocrats, who lend to becoino more moderate in political aspirations, will assume the reins cf control.

Admitting that his country in many respects still offers great scope for progress and reform, Sir. Wcnk-Wolff.main-tains that its inhabitants, from the Kaiser down to the poorest peasant, tiro essentially pacific in intent. The Kaiser might sometimes speak too much, but ho was nevertheless a very good and clever ruler, eager, at all times, to accelerate the peaceful progress of his country. "To my mind," concluded Mr. WenkWolff, "tho British people would be wiser to look to the yellow danger H'an to any da tiger from Germany. The Chinese are good fighters, and they are having a groat army trained on modern lines by foreign officers. Russia is another country that may need watching, lint, there is no danger from Germany. We want peace."

The English mail, which arrived yesterday, brings news of (lie deaHi of Canon Body, the famous mission preacher, in his seventy-second year. Born in Devon-' ."•hire in JSlfl. Georsc Body was ordained in the Lichiield diccese in ISKI, and worked for s'.s or soven. .veai-s as a curate among the working clai«os of the Midlands, hi 1870 he, was made rector of tho little Yorkshire villaje. of Kirby Mtpe.rlon, and was largely free to devote himself to mission work all over the country. In ISS3 Bishop Light foot made, him a Canon of Durham, with a view to his eoncentratins; on parochial ii)i«ion work in the diocese. Canon Body's labours, under t.hroo Bishops of Durham, among tho miners of tho district arc widely krown. He was in annual reouest as a T/enten preacher at West End churches in Iximlnn, and on several occasions was select pivacher at Cambrul-e. "N'\7ioir posses^s 1 rnwerful antiFeptic and rormicidal prnpertics, and represenls Ihe latest advance in medicine. If you will try it as directed for your cold or influenza you will -know how .rational and effective a treatment it is.~Advt. Dr. Percy Lewis, speaking at a meeting or the Balneological and ClimntoWiral section of the lwyal hocicty of Jlrdieino, at Folkestone, sail! there was very little evidence in favour of the harm fulness of hard water. Gout had other causes than hard wafer, and occurred eq'.inlly in llios". who drank flic water and thos? who did not. All the standard authorities were against the view that chalk in drinking water did any harm*