“Taranaki Central Press” WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1937. RETURN OF GERMAN COLONIES.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 326, 6 January 1937, Page 4

“Taranaki Central Press” WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1937. RETURN OF GERMAN COLONIES.

A cable message yesterday from London states that it is understood that Germany is preparing a memorandum to the interested Powers asking, in effect, for the return of her former colonies now being administered by different Allied nations under mandatory power* granted by the League of Nations. It will be a detailed request and will probably be presented on January 30. Germany will claim that she requires colonies to enable her to obtain raw materia's for industries. At the moment she is comparatively isolated from an economic standpoint, and has had to embark upon a self-sufficiency plan in order to maintain her existence without expensive importations, which incidentally she finds it difficult to arrange financially. There is really nothing new in Germany’s request. It has been expected even from the date of the Peace Treaty in 1919, when her colonies were not distributed freely to the victorious Powers but were vested in the League of Nations by a system of mandates. Moreover, the economic necessity of colonies to Germany is perfectly obvious. Her self-sufficiency plan, so far, while being cartied out effectively, makes tremendous demands upon her own people demands which probably only a well-disciplined nation such as Germany would accept. Under the circumstances, the Allied nations now administering her colonies will, with few exception, probably agree to the return. Coming at this time, however, Germany’s claim has yet a further significance. The Nazis under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, the Austrian paperhanger, have pinned their faith for success on stimulating in Germany a vigorous nationalistic, even imperia'istic, spirit. Now note that the memorandum concerning the return of her colonies will probably be presented on January 30, the fourth anniversary of Herr Hitler’s accession. We agree that Germany is fully entitled to the return of her colonies if the economic needs of the nation require the raw materials those colonies produce. But will the Nazi Germany of 1937 stand or fal* on the economic aspect of the case? Nazis are Jingoes, Imperialists of a more vigorous school even than those militarists of the post-Bismarckian regimes So, therefore, there is good reason to believe that behind her claims, based on the economic needs of the country, lies a threat: “We want our colonies; we will have our colonies." In a letter to The Times, after his return from his recent visit to Australia, New Zealand and Canada, Viscount Elibank, president of the Empire Federation of Chambers of Commerce points out what folly it would be to risk another European war through not dealing with the problem of the return of Germany’s colonies. “The colonyowning nations,” he writes, “Britain, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, America and Japan, should with goodwill be able to satisfy Germany' saspirations, Germany on her part making a contribution to the pacification of the world.” It is the latter aspect wherein our doubt lies. Fascism, of which Nazism is but another name, is a creed which must at all time be positive. There can be no passive policy followed in a Fascist State. It is a creed which wins support by the picturesque parade of power. We have seen it in Italy’s attack on Abyssinia. We see it to-day in Italy’s and Germany’s support of Franco in Spain. The fear is that we may see it in a bid for world power, and colonies are necessary units in world power.