THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 79, 27 December 1917, Page 4

THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

GERMAN AMBITIONS : • WHAT ENEMY STATIONS WOULD MEAN According to a cablegram published in The Dominion yesterday, a Gorman newspaper published at Hamburg has stated that Germany must not surrender her possessions in tho Pacific, since if used as naval stations and coaling stations they will enable her to "defy Australian and Now Zealand ambitions, check Japan, and threaten tho western shores of North and South America." The newspaper added a. prediction that after tho peace conference it would bo found that Germany's possessions in tho Pacific had increased. The Primo Minister (Right Hon. W. F. Massey) made an emphatic reply to these statements yesterday. "Tho Hamburg newspaper had said what I have no doubt many Germans are thinking," ho said. "Tho leaders of German thought know the strategic and productive value of tho Pacific Islands formerly in their possession, and wo cannot expect the latter to ho given up easily. Japan may he trusted to hold the islands she now occupies. What we have to think of aro tho islands south of tho Equator, in which Australia and New Zealand aro particularly and intensely interested. At a time like this we do not want to worry the Imperial authorities unnecessarily, but, remembering the paßt history of British administration in ths Pacific, and the mistakes that were made, we should bo wanting in our duty if we did not endeavour to impress British Ministers with the increasing importance of theso islands, and,' profiting by tho lessons of the war, the necessity of keeping the German out of the Pacific. "The representatives of New Zealand at the Imperial War Cabinet lost no opportunities in this respect, and I have the best of reasons for believing that the present Secretary of Stato for tho Colonios understands and looks at the position from our point of view. But the danger will be at the Peaco Conference when it comes and tho terms of peace are being arranged. 'No cannot expect people on the other sido of the world, even_ British citizens, however Imperialistic they may be, to see the importance of these islands as we see it. The 'Fremdenblatt' is perfectly candid. It says: 'The Germans want to establish naval bases and coaling stations in these seas, to defy Australian and New Zealand ambitions, check Japan, and threaten the western shores of North and South America. Just so—a trulv comprchensivo programme. Thanks to the 'Fremdenblatt' we know exactly what we are up against. We have had some experience of tho gcntlo German m the Pacific; we don't want him any more, and we are justified in making our voico heard accordingly."