EUROPEAN PEACE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 46, 17 May 1927, Page 1

EUROPEAN PEACE

progress being made german nationalism yUD SPECTRES CALLED TO , MIND (British Official Wireless.') RUGBY, Sunday. “The Times" reviews the situation in Europe in a leading article. It expresses the view that, although real progress has been made in recent years toward the establishment oi peace, there are frequent reminders that the efforts to this end cannot be relaxed. As the latest reminder the paper cites speeches recently made by German Nationalists, the demonstration in Berlin by the “Steel Helmets,” and the renewed struggle on the part oi the German Foreign Minister, Herr Stresemann, to compensate for internal developments with a reasonable foreign policy. “Even though the war spirit is dying down,” says the paper, “the reabsorption of Germany into the

general life of Europe is being completed very slowly. There are

inev table reverses and delays, the causes of which certainly do not lie entirely outside Germany.

“As thß Vice-Chancellor, Herr Hergt, and the chairman of the Reichstag group of Nationalists, Count Westarp, have continually declared, the lines of reconciliation, in view of regular co-operation between Germany and the Western Powers, have been laid down. Herr Stresemann has gained much for his country by following this in spite of the stubborn opposition of his own Nationalists.” The paper says it thinks the movement along the lines of the Locarno policy is gradually telling in favour of Germany and that an attitude of patience and tolerance has been established in Western countries. The Nationalists have failed to realise that a corresponding attitude is re- v quired of Germany if progress is to be ensured. Of the reactionary tone of the Nationalists’ sudden outburst of defiant speechmaking, “The Times" says:—

“This is exactly calculated to recall to the minds of Western nation* the spectres which were being laid. It may only be a passing phase in German politics, but at any rate it has created unfavourable conditions for the soundings in Paris being made by the German Charge d'Affaires, with a view to a reduction in the forces of occupation in the Rhineland.

“In France the disposition is to movs very cautiously in this direction, but whatever readiness there may be to reduce the garrisons, it has been chilled by the sudden outcry in Germany against the accepted method of procedure. The only effect of the Nationalist demonstrations will be to further delay the general work of appeasement and to cause a setback in that process of gradual reconciliation between France and Germany, of which many signs are visible.”—A. and N.Z.