THE PEACE CONGRESS.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 April 1919, Page 7

THE PEACE CONGRESS.

KI3W ZEALAND DELEGATION. ALLOTMENT OF REPRESENTATION. (From R. Riley, Official Journalist).

[No. ll.] Paris, January 30. The allotment to New Zealand of direct representation at the Peace Conference by one delegate only had been decided, closed, and sealed a week before Mr Massey, Prime Minister, and Sir Joseph AVard, Minister of Finance, arrived m Paris on January 2>2. They were thus deprived of tile opportunity given to, and fully exploited by, all the other delegations to make and support claims for the fullest direct representation possible at the conference table. It has been contended, of course, that the unavoidable absence of the New Zealand Ministers from the important preliminary Inter-Allied Conferences, or conversations (to use the official term), did not really affect the decision of the council of the great Allied and Associated Powers. Tt is impossible in the circumstances to challenge that contention, but it is at least right and proper to place on record the fact that the New Zealand representatives were not consulted on the question of allotment of representation at the Peace Conference, and had no Opportunity of placing 1 before the council the Dominion's claims and reasons for their claims for the Rame measure of representation as was allotted to ■State= whose war services on behalf of the Allies is not equal to that of New ZealandTt 7n,iv be -fated that, the civestlon of representation generally was t.l>ermi"hlv at several sessioro of the ireliminarv Inter-Allied Conference. Manv protests were submitted and numerous amendments Trade before the "ouneil consisting nf the President of t1 "- United States of America, and the Prime and Foreign Ministers of the "Tent Allied and Associated Powers reached their final decision. At one stage indeed, it seemed as though the Tcpresentstion nnoation would never be "losed. Need it be »aid t.lipt even nfteT : t was closed the council's decision had failed to give anything like general oat'ofaction. The allotment of international representation at the Peace Conference is as follows:—Pr !f ish Empire. United of America. France and Japan. .Ave delegate" each; Brazil, three delegates: British Dominions (except New Zealand) and India (including the native' .States), two delegates each: Belgium China Creece. Rumanii. Serbia. Poland and tlie Czeeho-Slovak PeiiiVic, two delepatec each:. New Zealand. Portusal .Siam C'lba, Ouatamala. TKv+i. Honduras. Liberia. Nicaragua, and Panama, one delegate each"Wrmtenefro was sis/) allotted oie iWewte. but the rules eoneernincr fin /■irtainrntio™ wre deferred until fie political situation of this country shall hni'e been cleared' up. I The representation of Russia was also neeessprilv deferred As a Tesult of further consideration. Belgium and fierW't were allotted three representatives apiece. tt was underwood, rather than resolved at the ptelimmarv sessions of the Inter-Allied Conference that, the panel astern should airtilv to all the great Powers, and also that any Power could change its representatives from time to time. As far as one could learn from tne free talk at the headquarters of the pi-itish Delegation about the allotment -of representation, the aim of the Allied Council had been an honest and a very patient attempt to exercise justice to all States. There appeared, however, to be a strong feeling among many delegates that the allocation of three representatives to Brazil was at least preposterous, if not outrageons, while other countries which had rendered substantial service and made great sacrifices on ibeh"lf of the emancipation of the world from Prussian militarism bad been classed, as regards repreesntation at the Peace Conference, with Siam, Liberia, and Panama. The exceptional position to Brazil was apparently justified W diplomatic reasons Perhaps t'he main reason "was a laudable aim at convincing her Latin-AmeTican people that the inter,est« of the free nations are more acceptable than those of the defeated Central Powers. But it is for the Supreme Council of the Allied and aso«ciated Powers to iustifv their diplomatic generositv to Brazil. , ~ Such was the position and such the comments in respect of representation at the Peace Conference when the New Zealand delegation arrived at this great rendezvous of the world's peacemakers. And it was at Oilce obvious that there was no chance at all of having New Zealand's claims reconsidered by the council of the Powers. No attempt was made to appeal to the council, but it was deemed reasonable and proper, having regard to all the circumstances, to place the question of New Zealand's representation before the British delegation. To begin with. South Africa had. for the first time, been given precedence over New Zealand in the order of what ipay be termed the relative importance of the British Dominions, as determined, apparently, on the basis of white population. Then it was admitted that due consideration had been given to the war service of each Dominion and State, excepting, of course, Brazil, and also to the necessity of recognising the right of nationhood as now claimed by all the Dominions. Further, there was the natural desire to secure that the case of each Dominion should be presented with the best possible effect. After careful consideration of all these points and phases of representation of .tlie Dominions and other small States, the New Zealand delegation decided to bring the matter up at the! earliest opportunity. Mr. Massey called on Mr. Lloyd George the morning after the New Zealand delegation's arrival in Paris, and the British Prime Minister immediately and without any hesitation or reservation agreed to have the question of New Zealand's representation considered at a meeting of the British delegation—practically the British Imperial Cabinet —that day. Both of our Ministers attended the session of the British delegation and received a hearty welcome. The conference was private, so it is not permissible to report the discussion, but it_ can at least be said that there was no attempt on the part of the New Zealand Ministers to lecture the British Government or to gain political publicity on the strength of -New Zealand's war service, as lias apparently been inferred erroneously in New Zealand. The Ministers Were invited to recount the Dominion's service in the war, and their simple recital of the facts, which require no daelamatory embellishment, or "political

emphasis," was certainly appreciated by all the British and other Dominions' delegates. Tlie result was an immediate •agreement to include Sir Joseph Ward as a member of Britain's delegation, and the Minister of Finance attended, as a British delegate, the second plenary session of the Peace Congress, at which the idealistic League of Nations was born to •wonderful parerfts. DISPOSAL OF GERMAN COLONIES.

NEW SYSTEM OF CONTROL. (From R. Riley, Official Journalist). ' [No. lII.] Paris, Feb. 4.

The question of the disposal of the German colonies came on for preliminary consideration before the council of the Allied and Associated powers within a few days after the arrival of the New Zealand delegates in Paris. Little time was thus given for the preparation of the liase in reference to German Samoa.

It was a matter for sonic surprise and dissatisfaction that the Council—the steering committee of the Peace Conference—had decided that only one representative from each British Dominion could be allowed to advance arguments respecting the future control of the German colonies in the Paicfic. Australia was subjected to a particular hardship in this respect, inasmuch as Sir Joseph Cook was Mihister for the Australian Navy when the Commonwealth forces seized German New. Guinea. None of the secondary delegates to the Peace CongTess were invited to attend the sessions <K the Council of the powers at which the disposal of the German colonies was considered.

It had been arranged that each Do minion should present its case separately, and at the first session Mr. W. M. Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia, put the case for the Commonwealth. Mr. \V. F. Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand, for New Zealand in respect of Samoa, and Ilieut. General Smuts, (in the temporary absence of General Botha, who was on a visit to London) spoke on behalf ,of the Onion in reference to the disposal of the German territories in Africa. The conferences were taken in camera—a procedure which put an edge on the sarcasm of the army of pressmen—about 300— in Paris, who consoled themselves with tilting at President Wilsoti's doctrine of "open covenants openly arrived at." The inevitable result was "some" guessing.

One may now say definitely, however, that from the beginning of the somewhat protracted conversations there was no difference of opinion at all as to opposing absolutely and without reservations the restoration of the German colonies tQ Germany. The only intentions issue was the question of control, and what form it should be given. f 'vera] methods had been mentioned as suggestions for consideration. The first of these was internationalism or direct control by the League of Nations. It was never discussed, it being generally agreed that direct control by the proposed League of Nations would not and could not be satisfactory. The second proposal immediately gained an overwhelming measure of favor. This suggestion proposed the adoption, as a fixed principle in alignment with the fundamental idea of the League of Nations of the system described as mandatory control. This meant in homely language that some one nation should undertake the trust of administering as a mandatory on behalf of the League of Nations the territory to be severed from the German Empire. An alternative suggestion was incontinently thrown out of cortrt. This alternative was simply honest annexation. Possibly such a disposal would have insured tlie elimination of many Unknown difficulties but the Council were obviously impressed bv the undoubtedly impressive weight of American opinion against further annexations. That was the position, these were the proposals when the representatives of the British Dominions appeared before the Council of the Allied and Associated Powers to discuss the late of the German colonies in which each oversea delegate was vitally interested.

It should be explained, perhaps, that adoption of the principle of mandatory control, as proposed and ardently supported by the American delegation, involved an acceptance of certain conditions and restrictions. Tn each cajse the mandate from the League of Nations would carry with it a stipulation that the territory should be administered, not in the interests of the mandatory, but primarily in the interests of the backward peoples inhabiting the former German colonies, and generally in the interests of the members of the league. No serious abjection was taken to such a stipulation as far as tlie natives were concerned, but there was surely scope for honest suspicion in the clause referring ; to the interests of all nations in the League, since there was no guarantee that the preseiit enemies of the Allies might not become eager members of the League iii the future. Then in addition to the stipulation already cited, further conditions were to be imposed on the proposed mandatories. All nations in the League were to be given equal right of access to the territory and to the resources rff the territory to be mandatorily administered. And the expenses of administration had to be met by a fiscal system on the understanding that if customs duties should be involved the charges must be equal to all nations trading with the territory. Here again the prospect of ultimately opening the economic door to our present enemies was real, enough to demand prudence. Further, if the mandatory found its administration to bo a financial burden it was to look League of Nations for payment of a proportion of the deficit.

_ Consideration was first given to the disposal of the German colonies in Africa, then to German New Guinea, and lastly to German Samoa. But I do not purpose reviewing in this article the important and interesting arguments put forward by the representatives directly concerned with the disposal of the enemy's former colonies in Africa and New Guinea. Reference will, however, be made in a subsequent article dealing •with the common oversea opposition.to a vague anil idealistic form of mandatory control on behalf of the League of Nations. GERMAN SAMOA. It was suggested by a prominent member of the Council that Samoa would be best administered directly by New Zealand which had a population of a little' more than a million souls. It had put over 100,000 men in the field, had incurred a war debt of £100,000.000 sterling, had suffered 60,000 casualties, : and lost 10,000 killed. New Zealand [had taken Samoa and fully realised that

money would have to be spent upon it if the island were to be retained. NEW ZEALAND'S VIEWS. Mr. Massey explained that New Zealand was vitally interested in the future control of Samoa, which prior to itfl capture by a New Zealand force in 1914, had been for many years practically a German naval base, and the fountainhead of German peaceful penetration in the South Pacific. It had been a menace lying athwart a direct ocean route between New Zealand and the United Kingdom. That menace had been completely removed, and New Zealand did not want to see it revived in any shape or form. A temporary or an experimental settlement would not give the peoples in the South Pacific the permanent security they had fought for without hesitation or stint.

Mr. Massey next cited in modest terms the resources and aspirations of New Zealand, and reviewed its policy in respect of the treatment of natives, whose appreciation of British rule and British freedom and justice had been expressed in substantial terms of ready service and willing sacrifice on tlie battlefields of the Allies. The extent and strength of New Zealand were not as small or as weak as its appearance on the map might indicate to members of the Council of the great Allied Powers. Its area was as nearly as possible the same as that of the United Kingdom, and the race occupying it was exactly the same kind of race as that which occupied the Motherland. And the people were just as enterprising and as Virile as they were in the United Kingdom. He hoped and believed that in time New Zealand would be as useful to humanity in the Southern Hemisphere as the United Kingdom had been to humanity in the Northern Hemisphere.

Reference was made in detail to the I unhappy liistovy of Samoa, whose native i population were not savages. They ; liad, he mentioned, in the seventies ask- ! ort Queen Victoria to annex l the Samoan | Islands, or to establish a protectorate, and so preserve and protect them. But nothing was done. Matters had gone quietly'until a number of. Germans appeared in the Pacilie and settled there Then civil war broke out among the natives, who numbered 35,000 approximately, and it had been said that the outbreak was the result of interference by the Germans. The attention of the United States was called to the trouble. Germany, of course, was taking notice, and Britain also took notice. Germany «nd the United States had each sent three warships to Samoa, while Britain sent a smart cruiser. A tremendous hurricane drove the German ships ashore, the American vessels were in trouble, and the British cruiser alone steamed out to the open sea, and was saved. The natives had considered the havoc wrought by the hurricane to have been providential. Later a sort of protectorate was formed of the three nations —America, Great Britain and Germany. The result had been anything but satisfactory. Germany was allowed to establish great trading stations all over the Pacific, also influential financial and commercial companies. Then a strong squadron of German warships was sent into the Pacific, and there established wireless stations. That was the position confronting New Zealand when war broke out. immediately on the declaration of war New Zealand was requested to send a military force to take possession of German Samoa, aud within ten days an expeditionary force had sailed from Wellington on that Imperial mission. It was, with the aid of the battlecrniser "Australia" and the French ship, the "Montcalm," and other ships of war, successful in seizing Samoa, which had since been occupied and acceptably. administered by New Zealand. Mr. Maseey also referred to the bardships New Zealand has suffered from the presence of the Germans in Samoa. The Getmails had a strong squadron of warships in the Pacific. The British Government sent a number of ships into the Pacific to look after the interestf of New Zealand. The result was a sea fight in which our ships were outclassed and outranged by those of the Germans and we sustained a loss of two cruisers and 1600 British seamen. However, there was some consolation in the fact that the victorious German ships met their fate off the Falkland Islands not very long afterwards. Had it not been, however, for the presence of the Australia with the battle cruisers, the Germans would most certainly have bombarded New Zealand coastal towns and much shipping would have been sunk, especially ships trading between New Zealand and Great Britain. Fortunately they had not been troubled with the submarine difficulty. The Pacific was too far away. Nevertheless, as he had previously said, the Germans got raiders into the Pacific, which had reach* ed the Now Zealand coast, sunk several of their ships and laid minefields. That was the sort of experience they had had from the Germans, and it was needless for him' to say that they did not want the Germans ever to appear in the Pacific again. New Zealand was endeavoring, and hot unsuccessfully, to build upa British nation in the Pacific. They were doing their best for civilisation in that part of the world. They did not want to be confronted with a menace such as Germany had been to the nations of Europe for the last hundred years. They in New Zealand were not fighting for themselves, but for those who would come after them. Samoa was of great strategic importance and the key to the Pacific. He would like to call attention to the position taken up by the natives under' British control in the South Sea Islands during the years of the war. When they asked for volunteers in the early days of the war, 2000 natives had come forward and many others had volunteered since. Many Maoris had been accepted as first grade fighting men. Besides these there were the natives of Karotonga, and other islands of the Cook group, who had volunteered and a contingent of them had been sent to Palestine where they had done good work. Among those were natives of Niue, which was a comparatively small island, and Gilbert Islander?-hild also volunteered; further, the natives of Fiji had rendered most useful service in the great war. Contrast this with the natives under the rule of Germany; he did not think there was a single case where any natives had volunteered to fight for Germany. He had received most pathetic letters from people of the native races begging that never agaiji should tliey be allowed to be placed under German rule. These were merely illustrations of the argument which he put forward presently. Everyone knew what Germany would have done if she had been victorious in this war; most of them had read German publications on the subject. Direct references had been made by prominent German statesmen to Various parts of the British Empire. Dr/ Splf himself had taken a very prominent part in German public af-fairs—at-wie time he -was Governor of Samoa. IS. Solf had stated publish-

that when Germany became victorious he was quite certain that she would occupy some of the British colonies. He (Mr. Massey)' did not suggest that we should do what Germany would have done, as we were not out for territorial aggrandisement. We had been forced into thia war, and it was up to us to prevent anything of the sort happening in the future. With regard to the League oi Nation?, which had not yet been established, he hoped that it would be established and that it would be very successful. He would like to remind those present that we had had experiences in the past, which had soinetimes been sad experiences, of joint control of native races. Mr. Massey mentioned the case of the New Hebrides. We were the best of friends to-day with the citizens of France and the Government of France, and he hoped and believed that that very satisfactory statu of things would continue for all time. But he thought it would be admitted, not only by the people of France, but by others, that our joint control of the New Hebrides had been an ignominious failure. Egypt too, had not been a succesß under joint control, neither had Samoa. He was very sceptical in regard to the success of any joint arrangement in regard to the German colonies. New Zealand had sent over 100,000 man to the war; 10,456 had been killed and 41,404 had been wounded. That was a big record for 1 a small country with a small population. They did not regret it because they believed it was their duty. The men went out to fight for the great cause of civilisation. He believed they would do the same thing again in similar circumstances. In conclusion, on behalf of his fellow citizens, and on behalf of the people of the islands of the South Pacific, for the sake of the native races, and for the sake of humanity, he most strongly urged that the claim he was making in regard to Samoa should be granted by the Congress, and that the island shouid be allowed to.remain under British control.