Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JULY 5, 1938. BRITAIN AND THE DICTATORSHIPS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 July 1938, Page 6

Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JULY 5, 1938. BRITAIN AND THE DICTATORSHIPS.

JN" defending the refusal of his Government to protect British ships in Spanish territorial waters; Mr Chamberlain, at an immediate 'view, is on reasonably firm ground. There is no obvious answer to his contention that, action to protect these ships which might involve war would not be warranted. It may be asked, however, whether the logical policy of the British Government in the circumstances would not be to prohibit trade with Spain. According to British official statements, the ships in question are not carrying arms, but are conveying foodstuffs and other non-military cargoes to Spain. In any ease, General Franco has no status that would enable him to establish a legal blockade. Britain is in a. somewhat inglorious position, however, in permitting the continuance of trade which she declares herself unable to protect where it most needs protection. Apart from questions that arise from the bombing of British ships in Spanish ports, it does not become easier as time goes on to believe that the present foreign policy of the British Government is likely to serve its declared purpose of maintaining and safeguarding peace. In a speech delivered in May last, Mr Chamberlain said of British rearmament: “We have to make ourselves so strong that it will not be worth the while of anyone to attempt to attack us,” and added:— The other half of our peace policy is to try to find out what are the likely causes of war and to remove them; to enter into friendly conversations and negotiations with other Powers. That policy is already bearing fruit. It would be highly interesting to' know whether Mr Chamberlain is still of opinion that the policy lie outlined is bearing fruit, and if so of what the fruit is supposed to consist. What is to happen in Middle Europe, where Czechoslovakia is only one of a number of small nations liable to be brought in one way or another under German domination, has yet to appear, but in Spain things plainly are going from bad to worse from the standpoint of Britain and the British Empire. The facts are brought out nowhere more clearly than in the refusal of the Chamberlain Government to protect British ships in Spanish territorial waters. That refusal quite openly and frankly is based on the consideration that action to protect the British ships which periodically are being bombed and sunk in Spanish ports might involve war, but war with whom? 'Certainly not merely the Spanish insurgent faction led by General Franco. Britain assuredly would not withhold protection from her ships engaged in what she has declared to be a lawful trade if account had to be taken only of General Franco and his rebels. Mr Chamberlain’s refusal to protect British ships in Spanish territorial waters is understandable only on the ground of his recognising that the forces actually to be reckoned with in Spain are not those of General Franco, but those of the German and Italian dictatorships. It is not for a moment to be believed that Britain would allow a filibuster like Franco to continue sinking her ships if only that filibuster had to be reckoned with. It is very much easier to believe that Britain is holding her hand in this matter because she does not wish to force an issue with the Fascist Powers and to plunge Europe into war. While the larger facts of the position make it possible to understand the policy to which Britain has been committed by Mr Chamberlain, they also make it difficult to anticipate any happy outcome from that policy, b ranco rather obviously is a puppet, supported and animated by Italy and Germany. There are optimists, some of them presumably in the British Cabinet, who believe that when Franco has been established in power by his Fascist backers, he will become Britain’s good friend. It seems much more likely that Franco, so long as he remains m power, will be the obedient servant of Germany and Italy. Bearing in mind that Spain is a country in which air and submarine bases might be established along the flank of vital British Empire communications in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the prospect opened, under the policy Mr Chamberlain defends so confidently, is by no means reassuring.