NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 208, 28 May 1919, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY

• In some respects the German schemers who are making a final and desperate effort to weaken Allied resolution have much to ,hope from delay. In Allied as well'as in enemy countries comprehensive attempts to restore nornial conditions must await the conclusion of peace, and existing conditions make for unrest and unsettlement. The hope of the German Government evidently is that the Allies t will be compelled by troubles within their own borders to yield concessions, they would not dream of making on any other ground. Some evidence is afforded to-day that the weapon of delay thus invoked,is double-edged. A message from a London Times correspondent at The Hague bears witness to a rising tide or opinion in Germany in favour of signing the Peace Treaty. The message is not robbed of significance by the fact that it has been delayed ten days or more in transmission. Apart from the general estimate of German opinion which it embodies; it cite.s utterances by German notables and by an independent newspaper which constitute in the aggregate an effective exposure of the tactics and shameless insincerity of the German Government and a frank admission of the justice of the Allied terms. Precisely how far such opinions have spread in Germany is, of course, a matter of conjecture, but it certainly will not weaken the Allies or assist the German Government in its campaign of lies and hypocrisy that the facts of the situation arc, as it were, being shouted from the housetops in the Fatherland itself. The essential assets of the Allies are, of course, their military command of Germany and their power of reimposing the blockade, but it seems possible that these as-sets-are now being valuably supplemented by a movement in Germany in favour of discarding shams and making the best isf the offered terms.

It is possible to prejudice a good cause by taking up an extreme and unreasonable attitude. The executive of the New Zealand Ectumed Soldiers' Association seems to have been rather unmindful of this danger in compiling its annual report. This document suggests a determination to deny any credit whatso ever to the Government and to regard it as simply and solely a target for unmeasured criticism. The report observes, for instance, that "A repatriation policy has not been enunciated, presumably because the Government has none to put forward, and any constructive suggestions that have been made have come from the association and from representatives of the repatriation committees." This is not so much criticism as a refusal to recognise a great deal of good work that the Government has done in providing for the civil re-establishment of our soldiers. It. is true that the Government was_ dilatory in developing its repatriation plans, and that tho enterprise as a whole would have been better and more effectively supervised by a single Minister than by the Ministerial Board to whom

it is now entrusted; Jht charges that the Government has not even enunciated a repatriation policy and that it has done "practically nothing" will not stand in the light of established facts.

As most people know, reasonably liberal arrangements have been made by the Government under which any returned soldier who needs it is able to obtain vocational training, and, with his dependants, is supported while so engaged. Then again, some 1300 soldier settlers have been provided with rural holdings aggregating over 553,000 acres. At the end of March, the date to which these figures relate, large additional areas were available for selection or were being negotiated for. At the same date 520 soldiers had been granted loans to enable theni to buy houses, and 339 applications of this nature were under consideration. These arc- conspicuous examples of what has been accomplished thus far. Assuming that the Government shows due enterprise in broadening its measures to meet an augmented demand, repatriation ought 'to proceed to its appointed end in this country under pleasanter conditions and with better results than the executive of the Returned Soldiers' Association is at present prepared to regard as possible. The officials and" other members of the association would be wise to recognise that by refusing all credit even where credit is obviously due they will be apt to rob of effect such reasonable and legitimate criticisms and suggestions asthey have to offor. That such criticism has 'at times been necessary has been proved in our own columns.