GERMAN COL ONIES AND "WAR GUILT"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 17, 4 February 1937, Page 4

GERMAN COL ONIES AND "WAR GUILT"

To us in New Zealand, as holding the League of Nations miandate for tbe administration of what was German Samoa, wbat Herr Hitler liad to aay about colonies in his Reichstag speech last Saturday bas some special interest.- In the first plaee, he avers that Germany does not want her ebloHids back for. military purposes but solely for economic reasons. . Yet we are told tha.t sometfeiiig very like military Ofgniiisation has arleady been going on a,moug tbe German element of the population of German West Africa now under a Soutb African mandate. In any evenfc, Gbrrliaiiy is such an uneasy arid liftreiable neigbbour tbat no British eommunity' cduld wish to bdve iier in control next door to it. Then, agdiii be says that- "the demand for edloiiies will be eteriially raised by a country as densely popiilated as Germany." So far a.s cdncerris providing an outlet for sur'plus population we have only to lodk at the usd iii this respect which she niade of her cdlonies wheii she had them- Dufihg her thirt years of pre-war cdloriial expansion some twd millioh GeYihand left thd Fatherland, but only 10,000 of them settled in German coldnies. In the same peiriod, it is said/ close Oii half a miilion todk up theii? abode iii British territoriesj the great majority Of the rest going to the United StateS. There is, of course, some better ground for Herr Hitler's blaim to free access to "raw material' s such as riiight be dr'awn froin Gef ihaiiy 's old coldnies. The mandate clauses of the Govetiaiit, hoifrever, provide for this, and it cduld ohly be in casd oi a war, prohably promoted by hilSself, that she might find herself embarrassed for want of access. In any event the League bf Natioils has the subject under discussion in a broad way with every oppdrtunity affotded to Gerinaiiy to take part ih it. The fdrfeiture of Germany }s colonies followed what perhaps may be regarded as a not altogether admirable but still long-established rtlle. TRey were takeii from hdr virtually by right of conquest. This, however, was a rule of wbich sbe was fully cognisant wheii she compelled war upon her European neighbdurs* It was one, tod, which she would undoubtedly hdve eiiforced had victory falleft on her side, aiid ih ho sueh mdderate way as did thfe Allifes. Tbe cdnfiscation of her co-ionies was, in f act, part of the peiialty imposed upon her as having beeh giiilty of a grdss breaeh oi th- peace. This hrings us to another phi'ase £>f tlie Euhrer's speech, that ih wbicb he "anhounced Germany's withdraWal of her, signature from the clause i ti the Versailies Treaty making her, giiilty of the Great War." Under this t^atis'fc "Germany accepted the respdrisibility of herself and her allies for causing all tbe loss and damage to wbich tbe Allied PotVers had beeh subjected b/ tbe war." This was, of course, ah admission extracted uhder the dur63S df defeatj hut it is hone the less true dh that account, and ho words of self-absolution from flerr Hitler can free the eountry from tlie wdrld's cohdeihha- i tion. It lay with Germany, ih the last recourse, to give the word to Aus tria and tbere would ih a'll likelihdod have beeh no war. On» the contrary, sbe gladl^ ehctiuraged Aiistria to seize the pfetext with which the assassihation at Serejevo had pr6videdf her. As a Frdrich statesman, M. Briand, replied to one who was seekihg to exculpate Germany, "it will be very difficult to convince histdrians df the tihia that Belgium invaded Germany." When in March last Herr Hitlerj after denouhcing the Lodarno Treaty,- submitted his seven pdints to the other signatories td it be spobe ih qiiite mdderate t.erhis with respect to edlohies' He merely expiressed Germany ''s "expectation" tbat "Withiri a feasonabie tinie, the problem of colonial eqiiality will be clarified in the course of friehdily hegdtiations." Sinee then he has felt hi8 military bands to hdve bCeii strehgthehed, partieularly by the Italiaii ailiance aiid, if hot hiirtseif, his 8pokesmen Goebbels and Goering bave pretty plainly intimated that Germahy means to get her colonies back whether by negotiation or not. However, it is ndw Siir-> mised that Hetr Rihbentrdp^ a ihtich inore conciliatory Cihissary, is to lay Germany's ease before the British Government and we may wel)l "wait and see" what note be may strike.