THE GERMAN COLONIES
OUTSPOKEN COMMENT BY MR. HUGHES MANDATE SCHEME TOO VAGUE Cablegrams published last month mentioned the statement miulo m Paris by Mr. JJiighis rrgnrdin;; Hid German colonies, and particularly N-sw Guinea and Samoa. The Australian Prime Minister denied emphatically that any real settlement, liaj been readied by the Peace- Conference on the colonial fiitosHon. 'lie demanded more ilelinite information regarding the system of control, and the nature of the guarantees Hint were lo be givrn. "Tho Press states that a satisfactory spttlpinpiit has been reached in the mutter of tlio dewtinips of tho German colonies. A liiitisfnctory ultlement! There has boon no settlement at all, and if tho.ro is any siitkfiidion it is at having come lo no cciiclii.'iun," said Mr. Hughes. "I nnpcnl to the cninnionsciise of everyone. You camp to tnkn up the lease.. of a limit? or .a flnt that you require. You nslcif Hip hoiis'o is unlot. what the rent is, and what other charges there may be. You got the answer: '\Vp can't toll you anything. A lioarsl which is going lo meet in one or ihr"o .ve.ir.s will fix tho rent an,l the terms of Hir loaso.' Is that a spltlement? T i\sl;: Ts it :i settleinput? Well, that is what the ennforoncn lins drailoil upon, nddiuj;, it is Into, that it is pi'iivHnnal. Provisional or not, T know in any cas-p tliar T have not n«spntp(l to it. and t'mr I shall not do so. Jfinil, wo in Australia havo no objections to Hi" theory of a mandato; that colonial territory is only to be allotted in virtnn of tlio nmndfite of a ddogation of nil Hip civilisod nntions. That may be so, but, tlion, lot them define that mandate and lot them give it now. "For us the league of eivilisptl nnti.ms is that which is now ■nipetiim at the Ouai il'Orsay, the one which saved civilisation when it was at the point fli death. Tt is not a leagup about which nobody knows whon it will lie working, nml v.ho will belong to it. Acconliii" to all the precepts of earthly law, thp court of justice before which you arc pleading ought not to refuse to uivo judgment and to Tefor you to another court which does not exist and does not sit, but may some day exist and sit." M. Lauzanno asked; "You refuse to wait?" •:< Mr. Hughes replied: "I refuse to wail when they won't oven tell'me who the judges are that will decide my ca?e and, ngain, the nuostion of New Guinea is for us one of life and death. There is no need for mo to tell Franco, at any rate, that for certain peoples, situated in certain geographical conditions, frontier problems havo exceptional gravity. It is no question of conquest or Imperialism or aggrandisement for them. It is a, matter of knowing whether their territory is to he safe or soiimi', or is to.he given over to all the fancies of passersby, to nil tho aggressions of marauders." Referring to the sacrilicos made by Australia, Mr. Hughes is represented to have said: "It is sometimes said that those who were far off did not understand at once in 1911 tho grandeur of the etuisfi for which the world wns tearing itself to pieces. We were fur-off. and wo understood at once. It wns not half-way through, the struggle, that wo hWenpd to the defence of civilisation. Wo had a. population, of five million men, anol we armed a tenth of them. From the beginning until the end of the tragedy we had eix fighting divisions on tlio ■front, without counting one in Aeia Minor. Wo suffered heavier lossee than the whole of America—2ss,ooo of out eone were either killed, crippled, or wounded. Never was an appeal to. their courage and devotion made in ynin. In tho dark days of March, 1018, it was an Australian division tliat assisted to fill the broach, roweld the line and' save Amiens. When this division wns called upon to make sacrifices it did not reply, 'Wait until an International Tribunal meets to institute a system of control and give us a mandate.* No, our sons responded inunodiatsly, without , hesitation, without quibbling, and without arguiini;—responded with their flesh and 'blood.
"But now they are (lead it seems that the procedure, in virtue, of which they gave lligir lives, was a bad one. To indemnify Ihem n new one- is to be established, remote and.slow. . Xot liow is the <\:stiny of the world going to be.decided. That will come later. It is to be the ln.sk of nrbiters. I know not who they iiro to be, when they lire to come, or whence."
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 156, 27 March 1919, Page 9
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783THE GERMAN COLONIES Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 156, 27 March 1919, Page 9
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