Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1939. AN INDICTMENT OF AGGRESSION.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1939, Page 6

Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1939. AN INDICTMENT OF AGGRESSION.

ACCORDING to a Berlin correspondent, German official quarters declare that the speech by Lord Halifax which was reported yesterday contains nothing new and that: — It would be better if Britain did not keep on repeating that she is not aggressive and does not want to encircle us. mat only makes us suspicious. The speech of the British Foreign Secretary admittedly contained nothing new. If professed to be nothing else than a carefully worded restatement of British policy as that has taken shape in the stress of recent European events. Ihe German suggestion, however, that Lord Halifax merely repeated Britain’s denial of any aggressive intent is obviously and foolishly disingenuous. Lord Halifax not only reiterated the desire of his own country for T»eace, but accused the present German Government in plain terms of pursuing a policy of deliberate aggression and bad faith. British policy, the Foreign Minister said, rests on twin foundations of purpose. i One (he added) was the determination to resist force, and the other was recognition of the world’s desire to get on with the constructive work of building peace. But today the threat of military force was holding the world to ransom and therefore the immediate* task of Britain was to resist aggression. Only in a different atmosphere, and with evidence that all nations really wanted peaceful solutions, Lord Halifax contended, would it be possible to enlei- upon the discussion ol questions of living space, colonies, access to raw materials and changes in the status quo. If the speech in which these contentions were advanced contained nothing new, it nevertheless raised decisively the question whether force or the rule of law is to prevail in international affairs. It is because the Nazi dictatorship is incapable of facing that question honestly and intelligently that the outlook for the world is at present exceedingly dark and menacing. The national interests of Germany, quite as much as those of anv other nation, demand that the insane race of armaments should be halted and that the nations should compose their differences on terms fair and just to all. _ Germany, however-, is ruled, not by a Government representing its people and studying their interests, but by a minority faction which has usurped power by astute tactics of propaganda and the use of organised force, and now places its own retention of power high above the interests and welfare of the German people. Throughout his years of preparatory agitation, the essence of Hitler’s teaching was, as Konrad Heiden has written, that: “Nothing ■was needed but to neutralise the masses by persuasion or force so that a vigorous minority might then make their own political decisions. ” Today that “vigorous minority” is in power in Germany, established there by duplicity, force, and an intimidating show of force, and is seeking by the self-same methods to impose its will on Europe and on the world. The essential characteristics of the Nazi dictatorship, apparent equally in its treatment of internal and external affairs, are that it is entirely unscrupulous and That its whole ultimate reliance is on force. Nothing better can be desired by the people of the British Empire and those of other free nations than that the British Government and those of nations with which it is associated should adhere steadfastly to the policy reiterated by Lord Halifax—a policy based first and foremost upon a determination to resist further aggression and embodying a recognition that the constructive work that otherwise might be done in building peace is made impossible meantime by the methods of aggression and bad faith to which Germany and some other nations are committed. The stand that Britain has taken may mean war. Any weaker policy, however, would invite the most terrible consequences of defeat even if no war were fought. There is no question of reasoning with the Nazi dictatorship. Either it will be halted by the massed power of the free nations, with or without war, or it will proceed with its schemes of conquest and enslavement. It has become, for the nations that are still free, a matter of resisting aggression or submitting to aggression. To that cardinal issue all others are now subordinated. HOSPITALS AND SOCIAL SECURITY. ■\yiTll the coming into force today of hospital benefits under the Social Security Act, new and novel conditions regarding the admission of patients to public hospitals are established. Broadly speaking-. individual citizens will henceforth discharge the whole of their liabilities where costs of hospital treatment are concerned by paying their social security contributions. .Many interesting questions are raised as to the. manner in which the new scheme will work out, but at an immediate view people of limited or moderate means no doubt will benefit very considerably. A question of some interest concerns the conditions in which persons in receipt of age, invalidity or other monetary benefit under the Social Security Act will receive hospital treatment. The form now to be filled in by or ’on behalf ol entering patients calls for particulars of any such benefits and it may be intended that the sums in question should be applied towards the costs of hospital treatment. In some instances this would be reasonable. In others it might entail serious hardship. Hitherto hospital boards have been entitled to lake over the pensions of pensioner patients, but have had power al discretion to return the amounts in whole or part. In order that hardship may be avoided, it is evidently desirable that discretion should still be exercised, in the new conditions now being established, in dealing with age and other benefits. At times, for example, a man is in receipt of age benefit and his wife is not. In such an instance, the impounding of the pension during a period of hospital treatment might occasion severe hardship. Individual age beneficiaries, too, may have continuing liabilities of a legitimate kind, such as rent or oilier payments on a home that might be lost if payments wen* not maintained. The general intention under the Act no doubt is that double benefits should not be paid to any beneficiary, but the circumstances of age and other beneficiaries may deserveconsideration on their individual merits. Lt has been possible hitherto for hospital boards to extend that considerat ion. and some provision of a corresponding kind should be made now that the scheme of hospital benefits has been brought into operation.