Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1939. PEACE OFFER OR WAR EXTENSION?

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 September 1939, Page 6

Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1939. PEACE OFFER OR WAR EXTENSION?

+ TF there is anv truth in a Soviet broadcast reported yesteidaj, X a peace offensive, sponsored jointly bv Russia and Germany, is destined to develop rapidly. As the broadcast m ’ runs, the calling of a “peace conference appears to ° • to much the same thing as the announcement ol a paitneish [ to uphold aggression and profit by its fruits. / Of the brave country meantime laid low by shamelessly wanton and unprovoked aggression, the broadcast says io example, that Russia and Germany have agreed hat no other nation, should be allowed to interfere with the fate ol which must be completely disarmed, new frontier lines bein„ drawn for Polish territory.” It is-stated that a “great neutral,” believed to be either • Italy or America, will be invited to attend the peace eon erenee.” Italy, reduced, or in a fair way to be re^ lcec * condition of humiliating subservience, conceivably might accept o-ratefully the projected invitation, but the United States could hardlv regard as anything else than an indignity and insult an invitation to attend a conference called upon at the outset to accept, and perhaps to applaud, an outrageous act ol international brigandage. ■Whatever else may happen, Britain’s attitude towards any such move as Russia and Germany are said to contemplate is sufficiently indicated in the statement made a lew days ago by the Ministry of Information in reply to a peace overture by Signor Mussolini. That authoritative declaration of British war aims read in part:— “As the Prime Minister said last week in Parliament, Our general purpose in this struggle is well known. Jt 1S Europe from the perpetual and recurring fear ot German g gression and to enable the peoples of Europe to preserve then independence and liberties.’ , “Whatever, therefore, may be the results of the Russian action in Poland, this purpose remains unaffected and will be prosecuted with unflinching determination.” While there can be no question of Britain individually, or the Allies as a combination, lending themselves to any such scheme as the reported Russo-German proposals embody and contemplate, the war outlook obviously is.complicated to an extraordinary extent by the indicated partnership of the Soviet and Nazi dictatorships. The nature, and intended objects of the partnership are far as yet from having been made clear in all their details. So far as Poland is concerned, no room is left for doubt that, two great countries have agreed to combine in despoiling a smaller country and in depriving it of its independence. Precisely what is intended to follow is not yet disclosed, however. Two opposed theories of Russo-German relations were set out in yesterday’s news. According to the first' of these, Rpssia is intent on setting immediate limits to German expansion, not only in Poland but in the Balkans. The other theory is that Russia and Germany have made or are'making an agreement under which they will divide all intervening territories into spheres of influence and enter into a military pact, opening the way Io a partition of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and the Baltic States. - To a great extent it. remains to be determined whether these developments are or are not in prospect and until existing obscurities are cleared up it will hardly be possible to define the actual nature or magnitude of the problems by which the Allies are confronted. Today’s news of the Russo-German partition of Poland and of the agreement imposed on Estonia by the Soviet obviously darkens an outlook that was already unpromising. At best, there is an extremely difficult and perplexing situation to be unravelled. Had Russia adhered to the policy of neutrality which she proclaimed even after her troops had crossed the Polish frontier, the Allies might have been regarded as occupying a highly advantageous position to pursue and achieve the aims with which they entered the war. They are strong in the consciousness of a good cause and in their military organisation on land, sea and in the air. Above all they are strong on the home front, where Germany, on account, of the ruthless oppression and exploitation of her Nazi dictatorship, is inevitably weak. The intervention of Russia clearly raises new and formidable'obstacles to the re-establishment of Polish independence. Precisely how far it is calculated to impede the achievement by the Allies of their total war aims is a question upon which more light presumably -will be thrown in the immediate future. THE RIMUTAKA RAILWAY. yyilEN Ihe curtailment of public works was under discussion in the House of Representatives some days ago, the member for Wairarapa (Mr Ben Roberts) raised a laugh, it is reported, “by announcing that he was willing to sacrifice the I’imulaka tunnel project.” No one need be grudged a laugh, but on the plain merits of this matter there is no reason for laughter. It certainly is to be agreed that the boring of the Rimutaka tunnel must be deferred until the country has met and dealt with the war demands now made upon it, but the postponement of this work is not a joke, even if it appears in that light to some members of Parliament.

The present Government is pledged to construct the tunnel deviation and put in hand last year working surveys which no doubt in normal circumstances would have been completed this year. The member for AVairarapa is therefore entitled to be credited with having made, on behalf of his constituents and the people of a wider area, a graceful, if necessary, concession in agreeing that the deviation project must be postponed for the time being.

This in no way alters the fact that, from a financial standpoint and in other respects, the Rimntaka deviation will bear comparison with almost any public work that has been undertaken in the Dominion in recent years and is vastly belter worth carrying out than many works on which money has been expended lavishly. When this country is once again in a position to make a substantial expenditure on public works, the Rimntaka deviation will have every claim to be placed by whatever Government may then hold office in the forefront of its public works programme.