NEW MONROE DOCTRINE.

Taihape Daily Times, 21 February 1918, Page 6

NEW MONROE DOCTRINE.

X VIEWS OF THE DOMINION. NO GERMANY OVERSEAS. ', LONDON, February 2. In his speech "before the Royal Geographical Society on the German colonies, General Smuts emphasised that j£ Germany was not seeking colonies after the English model. She was not looking for homes for German settlers. He quoted a speech by Baron von Rechenberg, formerly Governor of German East Africa, showing that Germany, owing to the shortage of agricultural labour, could not afford to encourage emigration. German colonial policy was entirely dominated by her far-ffeaching conceptions of world politics. Her real aims were not colonies, but military ipower atfd strategic positions for exercising world-power in the future. Her ultimate objects in Africa was the establishment of a great Central African Empire This Central African block, the maps of which was being prepared at the Colonial Office in Berlin, was intended firstly, to supply the economic requirements of raw materials for German industry, and secondly, and far more important, to become a recruiting ground for vast native armies, which would be useful in the next great war, to which the German general staff was already giving serious attention, as appeared from General von Freytag's recent book.. The viewpoint of the British Empire was very different. Great Britain never had any military ambitions apart from the sea-power which was essential to its existence. British statesmen avoided the dangerous course of regarding the native primarily as the tt\w material of military world-power. Great B'ritain"s objectives in Africa were inherently pjracifie and defensive. . GUARDING THE HALF-WAY HOUSE. Looking into the future from the broadest viewpoint, looking further upon Africa as a half-way house to India and Australia, the British Empire asked only for internal peace and the security of its external communications. The British Empire could not allow the return of conditions which meant the militarisation of the natives and their employment for schemes of Avor"d-power. It could not allow naval submarine bases to be organised on both coasts of Africa to the endangerm.cnt of the sea communications of the U-ipire and the peace of the world. T- -nil;* inast upon through land communications from one end of Africa to thi ether. The conquered German I colonic? couM only be regarded as guarantees for the future peace of the j J world. I He was sure that this opinion was i shared by the vast bulk of the Domin- 1 ions. They had no military ambitions, < Their greatest aim was peace. They had joined the war voluntarily and had been largely responsible for the destruction of the German colonial empire. The Dominions wanted a new Monroe doctrine for the South for protection against European militarism. General Smuts concluded by hoping that "the land where so many heroes lost their lives or health, where under the most terrible and most exacting conditions human loyalty and human | service had been poured out so lavishly in the great cause, may never be allowed to become a menace to the future peaceful development of the world. I am sure my gallant boys, dead or living, would wish no other or greater reward.'' SUFFERINGS NOT IN VAIN. The Belgian Colonial Minister, Mr. Renin, paid a high tribute to General Smuts, and dwelt on the triumphant Anglo-Belgian co-operation in Africa. Mr. Walter Long, Secretary for the Colonies, said that General Smuts's campaign in East Africa began the j crumbling of German power, which had continued ever since. He hoped /that General Smuts's address would %6 finely Simulated and read by all j f aegiS v;io desired that this great and terrible war should* end in a durable and real peace, and that the lesson taught by General Smuts may be learned by those who are determined that our losses will not have been suffered in vain. . . The Westminister Gazette says: "General Smuts's address brings us face to face with the principal difficulty in world settlement after the war. No one has contributed more to ' the process which made all the allies supreme in the world outside Europe, no. one has a better right to be heard aoout the final squaring of accounts He has gone to the root of our whole contention regarding the return of the Gccrcan colonies. It is the mi: Jor premise of all settlement with Germany thaT we know, what kind of world tvc are going to live in after the war." ! The Times, in a leader discussing General Smuts's address, says; "'Ger- I

many's marked eagerness to regain a footing in Africa is undoubtedly due to her vast military ambitions. Zimmerman, champion of Mittel-Afrika policy, has declared that the scheme is to enable the Germans to raise a native army of a million and create an independent navy, which would dominate Britain's sea connections and compel Australia and India to respect German wishes in East Asia and the Pacific."