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Hokitika Guardian, 21 September 1926, Page 2

Tin-: .suggestion of a cordial agreement between France and Germany will be an excellent achievement governing the peace o 7 Kurope if brought to pass. Probably they would be the last two countries in the world it would be expected to meet together, but the spirit of good will which even the gesture of a mutual alliance suggests, is hopeful for the future. It maV be expected that- both nations are heartily sick at heart of war. Both felt the effect of the war in men and money to the limit and the nations have had an experience which must have instilled into the minds of the present and rising generations the futility of resorting to war as a means to achieve national ad vanages. The Great War and all that has come after it, has emphasised again that the winner loses no less disastrously than the loser, ami that the possibilities of aggrandisement are as remote at the conclusion as at the commencement of hostilities. If the two nations are in earnest as regards an international reapproachmcnt, the advantage to both will be enormous. They are still, being neighbours, as it were enemies, watchful and in fear of each other. This hostility calls for a great expenditure on the. frontiers as a precaution to assure boundaries and to avoid serious surprises. It will indeed he a happy outcome for the belligerents to come together and he- as neighbourly friends, one trusting Hie other, and mutually respecting the boundaries of each other. Both have much to gain and a great deal to save, and such an entente would pave the way to a wonderful financial recovery. There would lie likewise, a remarkable trade revival with the two great peoples in amity, and the material benefits to accrue would assure the prosperity of both countries in a remarkable way. There need be no fear, we take it, of an offensive alliance between tbe two countries. Germany is so restricted in armaments, that she may not he a material foe in battle, but as an aid to help in industrial and trading revival, Germany and Franco can help each other enormously. If, then, the pride and rancour, of the past are lost in a mutual reconciliation between the two countries, it will be nil immense gain to both, and should be a. very material factor in assuring the more lasting peace of Furope for some time to come.