The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 1915. GERMAN MENDACITY.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 270, 16 August 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 1915. GERMAN MENDACITY.

(With which is incorporated The Tai hape Post 'inti Waimarinu Hews.)

Tile wrangiings of Germany about .he freedom of the seas and the right jf every nation to trade where it would iuxlcgs It appear that some nation has j 3een guilty of outrageous efforts to j create a monopoly, or an ownership of lU ovens a trade; and that nation — England —has, in pursuit of her intentions, established naval stations on every important lino of commercial ssa communication; that her Navy ha# d every strategical posit ion; .that Germany's ships, and the ships of any other nation, are not allowed to enter into competition with British trade. Tn fad, that nothing had been left under, by Britain to limit German commerce and. stop its developments by threatening to sink any ship that dared to encroach upon her arbitrarily established domain. All this is implied in a message that the German Chancellor has sent to the United Press of America for publication throughout that land,' just prior to Americans being called upon to consider the estimates of what is regarded as a necessary increase ih naval expenditure. In this message Germany still harps upon peace, saying the peace she seeks must he based up. n a guarantee to all nations of the freedom of the oceans. This i was intended to fway the Anveric?.r.

mind when considering naval increases, and in that connection would be calcu. la ted to work up some little distrust against England. Cut, on the other hand, it is very hard to 'realise where any defence against Britain’s commercial attitude before the commencement of the war can r^a-

sciabiy began. crtain ha;: I a'it up no tariff v.a’lg to fenc j German vessels out, but she has allow-

ed them, as well as the ships of every othm- nations to trade wherever they pleased, to compete with British vessels and British trad e in Britain, in her dominions and in all her dependencies on absolutely equal tenua. Bet it not b e forgotten that Britain had to pay a high duty cn all her good? into Germany, while German cheap labour goods were admitted into Erit-

. 1 ain entirely free of duty. No matter | in what part of the world Britain found • a new market, there all other nations were entitled to trade on precisely similar terms. German vessels could, and did,, even engage in the coastal trade around Great Britain, and yet this message to the American Press has the audacity to suggest that the seas wer e rendered other than free to all peoples. It says th e guarantee of peace she will demand must include the freedom of the oceans. Such talk the Americans will, without doubt, assess at its real value; they will only need to search for the first British limitation j of sea freedom to discover the hollowness of German reasoning. While other nations, including Germany,have put heavy embargoes on British foods entering their territories, Britain has allowed theirs to come into the fullest competition in her lands with her own production and manufacturers. This cunning dissembling by Germany is scarcely worthy of the notice that has been given to it. were it not that some who are not thoroughly conversant with the facts, might be led to believe that a presumedly intelligent and honourable people could not advene? statements that were so entirely void of fact as to place them in the category cf sheer mendacity.