GERMAN AUSTRALIANS.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 February 1920, Page 5

GERMAN AUSTRALIANS.

returned soldiers aggressive. Sydney, Jan. 21. Feeling is running very high in the southern part of the State, and all the elements of a regrettable outbreak are there- The trouble has to do with the election of members of the Culcairn Shire Council. There is a large German population in this district, and it was a Centre of strong anti-British sentiment during the war.' The anti-British feeling, indeed, became so strong that at one time a couple of years before the end of th(> war. the military went through the district with a fine-tooth comb, and a number of prominent Germans, including two members of the Shire Council, were interned. These two Hermans were released since the armistice, and they returned to their farms and their families. The other day, nominations were called for a new Shire Council for the district of Culcairn, and the two ex-internees, among others, nominated. Of course, the British section of the population, led by the returned soldiers, was immediately in an uproar. There was true Prussian insolence in the action of the Germans in accepting nomination just after their release from captivity as enemies of this country. A deputation of returner! soldiers interviewed the State Premier, Mr. Hoiman, about the matter. They said that feeling'ran so high that it was difficult to restrain the soldiers from direct action. The Premier expressed the utmost indignation with the acHon of the' Germans, and promised to make immediate representations to the Federal Government- He did so, but the Federal Government replied that it, was helpless in the matter, now that the war regulations were no longer in operation. The Germans seem determined to go to election, and if they <lo they will be elected, for the Germ'an vote in the shire is overwhelming. The soldiers are displaying an uglv temper, and declare that if the two Germans take their spats, they will prevent the carrying out. of any shire work. The sons of these two Germans fought with the Australian troops in France, but the returned soldiers say this amounts to nothing—that, the thing that matters is that the two men were interned as Germans and enemies of Britain.