STRAIGHT SPEAKING

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2954, 18 December 1916, Page 8

STRAIGHT SPEAKING

ATTORNEY-GENERAL ON PEACE PROPOSALS NEW ZEALAND'S PART A STIRRING CALL TO DUTY •. _ i In the< course of a conversation with a representative of This Domin ion on the German peace proposals, tho AttorneyGeneral (Hon. A. x Ji. Herdman) gave vigorous expression to what wo bclievo to be the opinion of the great majority of the people of New Zealand to-day. Mr. Herdman said:

"If it were possible that those who govern England could ever dieam of acoepting the terms of peace oiiered by the enemy, I should consider myself as belonging to a race that is everlastingly discredited, and that deserves to go down through histofy disgraced and damned.

"I don't for. a moment believe that the leaders of tho nation will look at the proposals. I believe that they will fling them back in the teeth' of tho arrogant swashbucklers who invented them. To me it is incomprehensible ■ that any citizen of a*British country should think that the offer should be seriously considered with a view to its acceptance. Surely it would be better to perish altogether as a race'than to submitjto a people who are as unscrupulous as they are cruel, as boastful as they are cunning, 'and as overbearing and coarse as they are capable. _ Surely it would bo better that the British race should be obliterated, and. that the glory of our Empire vanish fcrever than that Prussians should rule' or that they should enjoy any, great place in the world.

"But mark this! Our Pay has not come, but it is coming. The Germans know it, and that is why/the world is electrified with pompous peace proposals. "We are just reaching our maximum strength; we have rever used it. It has taken two years and a half to .build it up, and cur Array to-day threatens the destruction of German hopes and the downfall of German ambitions.

"Is all the work of two years and a half, all the anxiety,, all, the dearly bought" experience,, all the treasure spent, the lives lost, the suffering and the agony endured, to go for nothing ? Is Germany to be left where'she was before the war. commenced) and is England, to be called off from iho light just at a time when she can put forth her full strength and set about regaining the lost territory of her friends? S uc h an end to this struggle is unthinkable! The answer tp the question is No! T am sure, that the men and women of New Zealand would, if they were a.'ked, give such an answer. "I except a few —for there are sc.me in this Dominion who do not appear to care very' much whether _ England triumphs or is wrecked. It is melancholy to'realise that in some parts of the 'British Empire not only have wo to help to wage war' against the enemy beyond our gates, but we ate obliged to fight the enemy within cur own territory. The mischief-maker, the fomenter of industrial trouble, the loudtongued agitator, who is perpetually inciting the thoughtless to rebel against the law of the land, is as much. an enemy of England as the helmeted Prussian who discharges poisonous g.is on the battlefields of France.

.. has declared that all able-bodied men of: a certain age shall render military servico during this war. It has affirmed the principal that in a time of peril all men, no matter wliat tlieir stations in life may be, no matter whether they be rich or poor, are bound in duty to help to defend their country. The soundness of this principle is indisputable, and men who refuse to acknowledge its force should leave countries in. which tho British Flag flies, and take up their residence upon some part of the globe where the advantages of good government and the benefits of civilisation are not to be had, and whore they will cease to bo a nuisance to their folloW-crcaturcs. "Tho following object to a system of compulsory military service in New Zealand. / "(1) The enemy outside New Zealand. "(2) Persons of enemy national-' ity'within New Zealand. "(3) Persons who are helping tho enemy by endeavouring to frustrate every attempt the Government of New Zealand is making to assist England with men and material. "(4) Persons who are afraid totight for their country., . "(5) Persons who object to compulsory service upon principle. . "The number of persons opposed to military service is, I believe, small; but th'oy must not be. allowed to interfere with the war work of the Government and the raising of soldiers. The war must be won to our satisfaction. We have got our work to do, and .wo must see that no noisy demagogue shall make us swerve from the .line of duty which is so clearly and unmistakably defined. "New Zealand is to-day being put to a great test. It is being asked to make a supreme sacrifice. "As one who has been born within its seas, who has lived his life in it, who understands its infinite charm, its beauty, and its worth, I earnestly hepe that it will bo one part of the Empire which will'be able to claim—when the war is ovor —that it has emerged front the tumult of • battle with glory and honour, and without having to confess thfit it has experienced internal disruption at a time when, for the security of the nation, united action and an absence of internal strifo were indispensable." ACTING PRIME MINISTER'S VIEWS NO TIME FOR PEACE TALK.. "I don't think wo are in a position to discuss peace proposals on any satisfactory basis whatever just, now," said the Acting-Prime Minister (the Hon. J. Allen) yesterday. "We have been accumulating our strength for two years, 'we are still accumulating our strength, until it now probably exceeds tho strength of the enemy. By next year wo hope to be much better than they are in men and munitions. I look upon this proposal for peace which the Germans have made - as evidence that they recogniso that we. are gradually getting the mastery over them, and that they realise that in all probability no hotter opportunity can come. to them to mako proposals about peace than at tho present moment. They may be hypocritical —I don't know— but certainly if wo allow ourselves to bo deceived by their professions and their bluff we' shall have spilt all our blood in vain. Nothing can satisfy us, it seems to me, until Prussian militarism and all the evils that havo arisen from it aro wiped out, until wo can gain for tho futuro some peace that we can rely upon."