Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 1938. MOVING TO A SHOWDOWN.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 August 1938, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 1938. MOVING TO A SHOWDOWN.

♦_ one can look at the European situation as it is cle- ' veloping, or simmering, today, with feelings of confidence or hopeful anticipation. Neither will any surprise be awakened at the prediction, made in a cablegram from London yesterday, that the British Government will make a. fresh declaration within the next few days of its attitude towards the Czech situation. There is no official backing, at. time of writing, for the statement, credited to the political correspondent of the London “Daily Mail,” that the British declaration will take the form of an unmistakable assurance to France that Britain will support her should.,she become involved in any conflict as a result of fulfilling her treaty obligations to the'Czechs. Very probably, however, in predicting a declaration broadly in these terms the correspondent in question is merely anticipating the inevitable. The choice by which Britain is confronted is not a pleasant one. If she declares that she will combine with France in upholding the independence and territorial integrity of Czechoslovakia by force of arms if need be, the outcome may be war with Germany. On the other hand, it seems almost certain that if Britain makes no such declaration, Germany will proceed to build up her hegemony in Europe by methods which will not only give Czechoslovakia and other small nations the choice between martyrdom and helotry, but will make Germany progressively a very much more formidable enemy.and menace to the great democracies than she is today. At anything but the most immediate view, continued silence and passivity by Britain at the present' juncture seem likely to be at least as dangerous as a plainly worded intimation of her determination to honour her. obligation to defend the independence and integrity of Czechoslovakia—an obligation Britain shares with other members of the League of Nations. Britain, it goes without saying, will make every reasonable effort to avert any further disturbance of the peace of Europe. The cardinal question now raised is whether there are any means by which Germany can be induced to abstain from going to extremes in an opposite policy. Mr Ashton Watkin, one of Lord RunCiniah’s advisers, is said to have told the British Ministers to whom he has just reported on. the work thus far done by the mission in Prague that “an agreed and peaceful solution” of the minorities problem in Czechoslovakia “is not beyond'the reach of wise statesmanship if that quality is forthcoming from both sides and from all parties concerned.” This may easily be believed, but unfortunately there is little enough prospect of Germany being induced to approach by wise statesmanship an agreed and peaceful solution in Czechoslovakia. The Nazi dictators who are meantime in absolute control of Germany have demonstrated only too clearly their preference for very different methods—a parade of military force which stops only short of mobilisation and the use from time to time in and against Czechoslovakia of direct and deliberate provocation. Although the Sudeten Germans have some genuine grievances, the championship of their, cause by Germany is visibly compounded of sham and humbug. The blatant insincerity of the Nazis in their outcry on behalf of the Sudetens is made manifest, not only in the brutal treatment they have meted out to Catholics, Jews and other sections within their own borders, but in their failure to make any move to help their compatriots in the Italian Tyrol, whose nationalism has been suppressed ruthlessly by Signor Mussolini. Nothing is more clearly established than that the Sudeten problem is of importance to Germany chiefly as a pretext for aggression. To expect the Nazis to contribute by wise statesmanship to an agreed and peaceful solution of the problem would be to indulge in very idle dreams. It is possible, however, that a firm, united stand by Britain and France may induce Germany to modify her policy of aggression, and that a breathing space may thus be gained. Conceivably, it might be found practicable in that breathing space to build up better safeguards 1 of European and world peace than are visible today.