The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1927. THE GERMAN ATTITUDE.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 August 1927, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1927. THE GERMAN ATTITUDE.

Tin.; real German attitude after the war gives France much concern. Minor events or isolated .speeches often excite the French press tu a remarkable degree. Events of late have had a disturbing effect, and just now there is much strong, if not hostile, comment on the general aspect. Defence figures naturally excite special curiosity, and as a New Zealand paper remarked, while one is prepared to credit the German Government with an honest desire for peace, it seems that German expenditure on military and naval purposes requires a great deal of explanation. Since 1924 the Army Budget lias risen 50 per cent, and the Xavv Budget has more than doubled itself. Yet the limits for ox-

pond it lire on urniy and navy are virtually fixed by the I’eaee Treaty, and Germany, according to her critics, is now spending at least twice as muoli per annum on army and navy than tho Pence Treaty allows. France naturally has taken alarm not only at the rapid increase in expenditure, hut at tile expandin'* scale of organisation, and once more the leading Parisian newspapers are inquiring; with obvious anxiety what Germany's intentions really are. Tint France, wo may ho told, is not an unbiased observer, and we must make due allowance for her prejudices and her fears for the future. As against this we may point out that leading German public men, especially some of the Social Democrats in the Reichstag, have recently urged the Government to call a halt in military and naval expenditure. More especially attention has been drawn to tlrf? very large staff and the great number of officers enrolled as compared with the relatively small number of men—an objection closely parallel to the recent French comment on the huge proportion of officers in the navy as compared with the total personnel. The Nationalists in the Reichstag tried to prove that the great increase in the army and navy votes has been chiefly due to the rise in wages and the cost of material in recent years, but nobody seemed to take this explanation seriously. However, in .spite of all this, we are not compelled to assume that the German Government is deliberately acting a double part, or that it is intentionally playing into the bn mis of the Nationalists and other reactionaries. We must remember that a large section of the German people still preserve tlieir traditional reverence for the monarchy and that a still larger proportion of them cherish the hope of restoring Germany to the place that she once held among the Powers; and all alike regard a strong army and navy as the only practicable means for realising their hopes and aspirations. To some extent the Government depends on the support of the Nationalists in the Reichstag, and the President of the German Republic is even more amenable to pressure from this quarter than is President Coolidge to the potent influence exercised by the “big navy” party in the United States. There is undoubtedly danger to Ik? feared from his growing expenditure on army and navy, more especially in view of the fact that, apart from scientific purposes, it is difficult to see what purpose a German navy is to serve. But. in the last resort everything depends upon the spirit in which tue German Government discharges its responsibilities Happily there is ample evidence to show that the present rulers of Germany are actuated by a genuine'desire to maintain peace and to avoid all dangerous friction with Prance. And, even more fortunately, the latest developments in French political circles show that, under the influence of M. Briand. even such a redoubtable Nationalist and patriot as M. Poincare, is responding to the appeal for a more amicable and sympath etic attitude towards Germany

Tirrc mini her of aeroplane' accidents of late are largely oil the increase. Xo Gould, some record is being kept of

them, and if they were published, the number of accidents of a tragic nature must lie quite alarming. But without effect on those who are pursuing the pasl'inie. It is, apparently, very much like the vogue of the motor-car. In that connection also accidents are all too frequent, and it is shown that all too liuiliv arc due to carelessness and

worse, yet condign punishments aro not checking them. Equally so with tile airmen, there seems to he no break in the ominous succession of accidents, and in the meantime, aeronauts and private companies and governments are going cheerfully on with their self-imposed task of building flying-macliiiies. Sir Alan Coldiain (who, after all, lias earned the r ; .ri,t to hold strong opinions on the subject) looks toward eagerly to the coming day when Britain can he termed “a nation of airmen.” A writer wonders if C'ohham and the other enthusiastic aeronauts who are so busily engaged in risking their lives have taken the trouble to rend ‘‘Neon's” hook on aviation which produced so much sensation at Home a. few months

ago. According to “Xoon”—and. v.lioexer he may lie, lie writes - with minute technical knowledge of his subject and great logical power—the very idea of rendering ‘‘the viewless pathways o| the air” safe for transport and transit is ‘’the great uMusiou” of the age. v.l course, there is always the military argument lo fall hack upon Hut if we are justified in drawing certain obvious inferences from the recent aerial bombardment of London. it L practically impossible to dob'lid a great city against bonibingplaiies; and il tins is so, tbe only hope |or the civilised people to escape ultimate destruction is to abolish aerial warfare—which mav be understood to include aviation in all its brandies without further delay.