THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1908. THE POSSIBILITY OF WAR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3034, 3 November 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1908. THE POSSIBILITY OF WAR.

The growing teelmg 01 hostility on the part of the German people towards Great Britain has been made painfully manifest during the past few days. The cablegrams have related a statement made by the Kaiser to a representative Englishman. The statement, one might be inclined to think, was not onl}* of a harmless character, but one calculated, if anything, to promote good feeling between Great Britain and Germany. Unfortunately, such an assumption would be entirely erroneous, and the reason thereof is the markedly bitter spirit that the Germans, as a nation, entertain for the British. And what is this terrible thing, in the eyes of Germans, that the Kaiser has done? It is merely this, that during "black week," when the Boer war was in progress, the Kaiser suggested a plan of operations against the Boers. When that war was on, German sympathies were, of course, proBoer, and that is why the action of the Kaiser is so distasteful to his subjects, indeed, the Berlin correspondent of the London "Daily

Telegraph" goes so far as to say that it is impossible to blink the fact that the Kaiser's remarks constitute the most unpopular action of his reign. Now, what is the cause of the German hatred of the British? A writer in the "Quarterly Review" nas truly stated the case as follows: —"Nothing can be more certain than that the German Government and the whole German people, constituting at oneo the most formidable, tho most compressed, and the least satisfied of all the Great Powers, regard the strength of England, and tho existence of her maritime supremacy, as the first and the chief obstacle to the realisation of their ambitions by land and sea. Fall before that obstacle, and a Teutonic Empire, able to hold its own against the united force of the Anglo-Saxons or of the Slavs, or even oi the Yellow world, can never be created. Break that barrier, and the accomplishment will follow of more splendid hopes than Chatham ever achieved or Napoleon ever cherished. This, and nothing but this, is at the present moment the fixed idea of German thought and the guiding instinct of German feeling. For us there can be no safety in optimism." The finances of Germany are not, and have not been, in a satisfactory condition for some time past, owing to the burden laid upon the people in order to increase the naval and military strength, especially the former, of the country. It is potent that Germany is preparing in the most systematic manner for war, and that the day of hostilities cannot be far away, as the country cannot bear present financial strain for much longer. The question then arises, who is the enemy, and critics, who should be as competent as any authorities, have declared again and again that England is the foe. Commercial advantage has not been, and never will be, an unusual cause of warfare. The maintenance ot advantageous commercial relationships, or the desire to develop trade, have resulted m long and terrible wars. The commercial interests of Great Britain and Germany conflict in various ways, and it is such convictions that are liable to cause an open rupture between the nations. Of course, everyone hopes for the best, but it must be admitted that the outlook is gloomy with doubt. A deplorable feature in the present situation of international affairs is the undoubtable insecurity of the Home defence, In this connection a passage in an article recently contributed to the "Nineteenth Century" by Colonel Lonsdale Hole, is significant. He says:—"The East may make large demands on our small force of welltrained troops at Home; the Admiralissimo may. have to show the mobility of his fleets far away from our shores against living, bitter, and determined enemies, and, then, it may be in a month's time, how about the defence of the heart and vitals of the Empire against France or Germany, or perhaps both? For to either of them the temptation to aggression may be insurmountable. What is hopelessly impracticable to-day may have become hopefully practicable to-morrow. Which of these to countries is destined to be the first to terminate its present friendship with us, and to adopt in place of it a hostile attitude, would be impossible. in the whirligig of international politics, for any one to predict. But even the best arid most intimate personal friends sometimes quarrel unexpectedly, and so do nations. And the unex* pected may come at any moment. The issue then depends mainly on which of the friends quarrelling has been best prepared for the disagreeable eventuality."