MOTHER COUNTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 July 1918, Page 5

MOTHER COUNTRY.

OF PEACE. • GERMANY IN THE PACIFIC. MUST BE OUSTED. STRAIGHT TALK BY KZ. LEADERS. Received July 16, 7.40 p.m. LomJon, July 15. The British Empire League gave a luncheon to Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward at Claridge's Hotel. Mr. Massey said that though the problem of war had not yet been solved, it was not too soon to begin dealing with the problems of peace. The Empire's citizens had upheld its dignity and prestige in the war, and would do 80 in peace. He feared German intrigue more than German force of arms. There most be an increase in Empire production in ; order to bear the financial burdens, hl«a considerable emigration. It should be the duty of legislators to enoourage the forking up of raw materials and to prevent unfair competition by our enemies. Much would have to be done to improve communications between the different parts of the Empire. Labor an 4 capital must work more harmoniously. He favored profit-sharing, if possible. In war we were stronger than the enemy in every department. The AHi« would not be influenced by enemy threats over Belgium. They had made up their minds to win, no matter !how long the war lasted. ' Sir Joseph Ward disagreed with those who thought it premature to discuss possible peace terms. If the nation knew why it went to war, then, logically, it must be able to decide what its peace terms must be. An uneasy suspicion had been aroused that the German Pacific islands might be the subject of negotiations at the peace conference. The New Zealand delegates came to England with a positive mandate that the public would never tolerate the handing back of Samoa. Under no circumstances must any such tiring occur. It was unthinkable that Germany should ever again get a foothold in the (Rwdfic, where die was an interloper from the first. If such a calamity befall us the bonds of Empire would be brought to the straining point. The people of the Motherland should understand the Dominion viewpoint, and should realise this was no "stand-and-deliver" threat, but the expression of a deep-seated conviction upon a definite ideal cultivated for half a century, often in the teeth of scant sympathy or encouragement from the Imperial authorities. He hoped this sublime indifference to the importance of the ownership of a few small islands in the Pacific would disappear for ever. How would Britishers view the'occupation by Germany of the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Hebrides, or the Orkneys? In 1890 England failed to realise the vafee of Heligoland, Was there anyone to-day who approved of tihe cession of Heligoland? The answer to that question justified part of our case with regard to German possessions in the Pacific. She would never have been there bat for the masterly negligence of British statesmen. Those overseas disliked German methods of colonisation and treatment of native races, also because the instincts of German ambition were a standing menace to security—Press Assoc.