THE KAIPARA AND WAITEMATA ECHO WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE KAIPARA ADVERTISER & WAITEMATA CHRONICLE." HELENSVILLE, THURSDAY, July 12, 1917 THE DOMINIONS AND PEACE.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 12 July 1917, Page 2

THE KAIPARA AND WAITEMATA ECHO WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE KAIPARA ADVERTISER & WAITEMATA CHRONICLE." HELENSVILLE, THURSDAY, July 12, 1917 THE DOMINIONS AND PEACE.

IN the Governor-General's recent speech we think most important was the reference to the Imperial authorities having conceded to the Overseas Dominions the right of consultation in the matter of the terms on which peace is to be made at the end of this great and cruel war. We, as New Zealanders, haye a debt against Germany in the matter of our death toll caused by our attempt to save the Mother Country and ourselves. We are vitally interested in the command of the sea approaches to our country and also in the character and quality of those who are to be neighbours for all time. In this the interests of the Dominion of New Zealand are identical with the interests of the Commonwealth of Australia. The fact implies a very strong measure of support for our ideas. In this matter the Union of South Africa is vitally interested also in an even greater degree, and that is a really great thing to say. The Union of South Africa has freed itself from the German contact, which is both a danger and a pollution. It has done so by a couple of campaigns of the most extraordinary character. The campaign of Botha in SouthWest Africa is one of the most splendid successes against difficulties amounting to the impossible recorded in the history of war. There, is only one to compare with it, and that is the success of the campaign of General Smuts in East Africa. How he.struck to the immediate north of Kilimanjaro and hurled back the German invasion of the Uganda country ; how he followed up with the thrust of De Venter's column, which, under conditions of climatic difficulty, fought its way south, securing and maintaining a grip of the German railway between Tanganyika and jthe coast; how he directed the converging sweep of British and Belgian columns into the German East Africa from the Congo, Rhodesia, and the Nyanza country,1 and of the Portuguese forces from the south; how he forced'his way down the coast to the railway ; and how the great combination destroyed the German plans' and conquered the whole country of the German occupation —these constitute a really marvellous history of conquest under appalling difficulties of climate and distance. The history is a ; guarantee that the South African ■ Union will be with us in our insistence against the return tc Germany of a single area of the r conquered German colonies, Our insistence is one of the ad- > mirable things in the GovernorGeneral's speech. As a partner in the Empire and also as a growing nation o: democratic ideals, New Zealanc * has a vivid interest in the fat( •of Mesopotamia. The valour o: British and Indian troops ha; conquered that country in i. manner as remarkable as th< - Boer General's splendid conques in East .Africa. That countrj cannot be allowe^T.o gobackint< c Turkish: hands,-.^ because thi r Turk is unfit to r s^ ;t, (2) becausi if it is abandoned t6-;'the Turk i falls into the hands of Germany hungry for the destruction of tin British Empire, (3) because it regeneration will solve th' Asiatic problem which menace the British Empire with trouble The first point requires no furthe proof than the state of Mesopo 'i tamia and its people, plus th »c Armenian massacres. Th second stands proved by variou German volumes, bound in bras - brazenly and duly numbered i: the great "blood and iron series, which preceded and made th ir war. The third point will giv m the white races of the Empire a asset of bargaining by openin Mesopotamia to all generation of increase the Indian Peninsuli _ is likely to produce for som ages to come. These argument for tlie retention of our conques are. reinforced by the principl ) oix which the Entente Power j' are agreed —that nations are fre to choose their own Govern • ments. _ Of the retention of the es German colonies is it necessar to speak ? The Speech mention ed the predilection of the peopl of Samoa for British sovereignty It is not a matter of guessing It is a fact, proved by the man earnest requests by the Samoa s people to be taken under Britis " protection. Does anyone su] pose that German dominatio 1 forced upon them by the pr<

longed stupidity and inexcusable thoughtlessness of Downing Street has made them alter their mind ? What is true of Samoa is true of South-West Africa, East Africa, the Cameroons, the Congo basin, New Guinea, and every other place that has had the misfortune to come under the murderous tyranny of the notori" ous ti-iumviiate, " Mailed Fist," "Shining Armour," and "Rattling Sabre," calling itself the hand of the Almighty, and under guidance of its own unprincipled will. *

The British Government has promised to do its utmost to meetthe wishes of the Overseas in this matter, and has given them a voice in the making of the terms of peace. This, with the assistance of the guarantee to all nations of freedom to choose their own flag ought to be enough to keep the German colonies and Mesopotamia in the hands by which they were won from German Kultur and saved from its fruits, which are Piracy Perjury, Murder, Outrage, and Rapine. The people of the Dominion look to the Govern" ment to take a course on these questions which shall ensure success by persuading all nations of the righteousness of its demands.