GERMAN COLONIAL AIMS
! AFRICA A VAST ARMED CARIP I TELLING SPEECH BY GENERAL SMUTS (Bee. January 30, 9.15 p.m.) London, January 29. General Smuts, lecturing before the members of the Royal Geographical Society, described the East Africa campaign. It was clear, ho said, that the Germans had decided to develop the country, not a? .an ordinary colony, but as a tropical possession for the cultivation of raw materials. She had. systematically discouraged white colonisa-tion.-Harsh as the German system was, he was not prepared to deny that it was perhaps the most scientific, and inthe long run the most profitable form of exploiting the tremendous natural resources of the tropics. German colonial aims wero entirely-dominated bv. a far-reaching conception of world polities'. Vast Military Schemes. Germany's ultimate object in Africa •was the establishing of a great Central African Empire', including the English, French, Belgian, and .Portuguese possessions. .She wtis now claiming the return of her colonies in order to resume' her march towards this objective. She aimed at securing recruiting grounds for vast native armies, and naval submarine bases on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, dominating both ocean routes,- and bringing Anglo-American sea power to nought. Native armies would bo useful in her next great war, to which the German General Staff was already giving Beriouß attention. "The untrained levies of tho Union of South Africa will do down before -these Ger-man-trained hordes, who wilL also be able to deal with North Africa and Egypt without the deflection of a.ny white troops from Germany. This will also mean a great army planted on the flank of Asia, whose force could'be felti throughout the Middle East as far as; Persia, and even further. The.British* Empire can not allow the militarisation of natives or the establishment of naval submarine bases employed for schemes of world power. Guarantees for Future Peace. ' "The conquered German colonies can only be regarded as guarantees for thej future peace of the world. I am sur3| that tins opinion is""shared'by. the'vasti hulk of the dominions. They largely' are responsible for the destruction of! the German colonial empire) "and the: consequent prevention of the German] military system spreading to tho ends of! the 1 earth. They should not bo askouV to consent to the restoration to mili- ! tant Germany of fresh footholds for militarism in the Southern Hemisphere, endangering tho future of their rising communities. They want a new Monroe Doctrine for the south, for protection against. European militarism."— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.-Router.
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Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 114, 31 January 1918, Page 5
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412GERMAN COLONIAL AIMS Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 114, 31 January 1918, Page 5
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