BRITISH RULE.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 March 1922, Page 5

BRITISH RULE.

ATTACK BY GERMANY. POLICY IN COLONIES. , ! j A SEVERE INDICTMENT. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyrlgtt. Berlin, March 5. The discussion in the Reichstag on the estimates of the Ministry of Reconstruction included a debate on Colonial administration. The National Party deputy, Herr Levverens, who is an ex-colonia’ official, made a slashing attack on the alleged mismanagement, corruption and inefficiency of the British and French administration of the former German colonies. He said monstrous conditions have been brought about by the mandate system. All that Germany had built up in three decades had. been destroyed. The European population in East Africa had decreased from 600 to 2000. Once blooming German plantations had disappeared and the railways were closed. Things were even worse in the Cameroons and Togoland, where the French had introduced universal military service. The ' sanitary conditions were lamentable, and there were scandals among the 'officials. The New Zealanders had expelled the Germans from Samoa and now ttee plantations were neglected. Spanish influenza was raging among the populaThe mismanagement in New Guinea attracted attention even in the Australian Parliament, where the prevailing conditions were described as chaotic. Therefore, it was clear the mandatory system did not prbmote the welfare of the peoples. It was the peremptory duty of Germany to insist again and again that Germany should be allowed to co-operate in the tasks of colonisation and should receive mandates over the territories where she had accomplished decades of civilising work. Happily the Government had not buried the hope that Germany would get her colonies back.