THE PACIFIC QUESTION.

Taihape Daily Times, 6 June 1918, Page 4

THE PACIFIC QUESTION.

The attitude of America in after war considerations of the question of Germany's colonies in the Pacific has up to the' present been somewhat obscure Americans had not taken any part in the figthing and had therefore

not been brought face To face with the German as he actually and unalterably is. They had experience of a few isolated cases, at the apex of which was the Lusitania, but they were not quite sure whether that crime-indelible was aimed at America or merely at Britain, with the crime against Americans an incidental affair. As the war progressed and submarine piracy developed the air rapidly cleared and. America saw that the intention of the submarine was to send every ship to the bottom of the sea. and cause the total destruction of its cargo, no matter to whom it belonged, neutral or belligerent. Eealising the full fact that Germany was,

in this submarining, at war with America by performing all the acts of war that was possible, America had no honourable course open but that which led through a declaration of war. Since this declaration America has not

suffered to any great extent in her national waters, or by the sabotage of spies ashore than she did prior to it uniii; 'recently. G'erniany had Iput America in the category of contemptiblcs, but he had that disastrous error impressed upon him by the arrival each month of hundreds of thousands of American trained troops in France. It is indignifying for the god-raised supermen to have to admit falibility, and they disregarded the changing conditions of man-power on the west front until they actually realised that the last contemptible army had supplied the deciding factor in the battle of the Marne to come, as the first contemptible little army from Britain had furnished it, in the first Marne struggle. Too late they started to win the war against America by sending submarines to sink everything that floats in American waters, and during the early part of this week quite a harvest of destruction was reaped. Quito a large number of ships were sunk, but, fortunately, there were no troopships amongst them. However, this has furnished the clinching evidence in the American mind against the Hun as a neighbour, and it has assur-

ed his banishment from the Pacific for ever. We are now informed that America will support the claim for an an Australasian Pacific Monroe Doct-' rine. This Pacific continent is regarded as the rallying ground of the Pacific free communities, and America now feels that Germany's ejection from the Pacific is irrevocable, because Australasian opinion will not allow the German, menace to revive. With Uncle Sam,standing behind the chairs occupied by Mr, Massey and Sir Joseph Ward at the Imperial conference they will have little trouble in establishing their claim to having the restorations of German colonics in the Pacific deleted from the list of details to be discussed at peace negotiations. It was telegraphed that a number of vessels and an aeroplane were distinctly seen by a number of people, including a pressman, from Hokitika yesterday. With Germany in possession of Samoa we should long ago have felt their presence. America's misfortune and German folly is ren'd'ering the future .safety of Australia and of this Dominion secure from the pre-war Pacific cancer spots, and is making the work of our emissaries to Britain in that connection quite an easy task.