The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, MAY 22, 1915. THE SPIRIT OF FAIR FLAY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 19, 22 May 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, MAY 22, 1915. THE SPIRIT OF FAIR FLAY.

At this time it is especially desirable that we do not forgot that we me; British in every sense, and that we desire to live up to the best ideals of our Empire. Fair play to all men, of j ell nationalities, has ever been one, of the national characteristics and we ( ■should be indeed sorry it, smarting with just indignation at the hellish j deeds of the unspeakable German military, our people became hysterical and wreaked a poor vengeance on harmless or innocent persons domiciled amongst us. There are ahvdys those who will make mischief by exaggeration or by pure invention, and there are also those who honestly believing a wrong thing make much trouble by carrying the supposed truth further. The traitor-alien must, ot ; course, on discovery receive the heav-j iest penalty the law will allow to be j imposed, but we do not want rioting and mob rule, or demonstrations against residents on mere suspicion that they are enemies of our State. Commenting on the recent happening in Wanganui, the Otago Daily limes says justly that all level-headed peo-; pie iu New Zealand will regret the happening, and proceeds; Hie victim of the principal attack was a British subject by naturalisation and a. citizen of many years’ standing in the community, and there seems to have been no adequate ground for doubting iho loyalty which he has professed to entertain to the British Empiie. j Whatever excuse may be made tor the mob at Wanganui, there can be no doubt that its behaviour was unreasonable and stupid to a degree. Such

an occurrence is in keeping, of course, with what has been happening in many parts of the Empire, and is attributable mainly to the over-wrought feelings of a populace roused to the last pitch of indignation by shameful German atrocities. Mr Asquith has deemed it necessary to condemn in strong terms the outbreak's in England, which he has summed up as “an outburst of vindictiveness winch did little harm to the enemy and often injured innocent victims.” A consequence of the Lusitania episode will probably he the internment of Germans in the Old Country on a much more comprehensive scale than lormerly, aml it will he noted that at a great meeting at Chelsea, addressed by some representative British speakers, the demand was made that the Government should confiscate all German property in England, the estimated value of which is CfM,OOO,OOO, and intern all wealthy Germans. It has been reported recently that seventy British linns have received a notitieation that their German branches have been seized ami sequestrated. Ihe implication seems to he that the German Government has been confiscating Brilisb property in Germany. I! so, the proposal to confiscate German property in Great Britain would be a reprisal sullicieiil ly justified by the

action of the German Government d

self. The action of an unruly and non-discriminating mob is. however, something quite apart from whatever steps the Government either in the Old Country or in this dominion should doom it necessary to take to meet the exigencies of the situation. As Mr Asquith has pointed out, the damaging of property is not going to do any good, and may cause loss and sufteriug to the- innocent, it British insurance companies have to make good the losses caused- and valuable property has been destroyed in various parts of the Empire, particularly in South Africa— manifestly those whom it has been desired to injure will not be the! chief sufferers .In most of these cases,' however, the public itself is the loser. If such senseless conduct were carried to extreme's a small and foolish section of the populace might cause uuemploy-j meut and other results that would preciably recoil upon the community as a whole. While the main attack at Wanganui was directed against the premises of one individual, the wellknown firm of Halleusteiu Bros, and Co., it will he observed, was also specially singled out for destructive at-| tontion. A more illogical display of resentment it would surely bo difficult to find. The extensive business which this firm controls is a New Zealand product, in no sense built up out of, foreign capital, and the members of. the. firm are either British-horn or naturalised British subjects of longstanding as citizens of the dominion. The firm, moreover, has given an example of patriotism that many others ( might well have emulated. Within a, week of the outbreak of hostilities it J notified its employees, whose number is very considerable, that all enlisting for active service would not only have their situations kept open for them at. the end of the war, but would also receive half-pay for six months, at the end of which time their position would again he taken into When the six months had elapsed the firm decided to cot lime this half-pay i allowance in the case of all married employees who had gone to the front, j and also to all unmarried employees who had persons dependent upon them. Such a case seems well worth emphasising as illustrative of the ig-| noranee, unfairness, and stupidity that may mark wanton attacks on property committed in the fever-heat of ah anti-German demonstration. The indignation of the British race against the Germans as a nation is of a depth that will demand and insist upon a great and righteous satisfaction, but it can gain no satisfaction from foul- j ish displays of feeling, accompanied by actions that cannot lie cited as ex-| am pies of British fair-play. Perhaps • Great Britain has been less severe than! it would have been to her advantage to be in the matter of the internment of Germans resident in the Old Conn-, try. If .so, she will now have to adopt stronger measures. Ihe generosity of her attitude in this connection con-, trusts with the German treatment of, British residents in Germany, and,: we conclude from a message from Berlin the people of Germany are now, learning of it with surprise, having) imagined apparently that the action of their own Government had been also! that of Britain, and that all resident in the United Kingdom had long ago been deprived of their liberty.