GERMANY PREPARING FOR WAR.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2660, 16 November 1909, Page 2

GERMANY PREPARING FOR WAR.

LORD NORTHCLSFi-E’S VIEWS

BRITISH PUBLIC APATHETIC

Lord NortT-cliffe, managing owner of bite ‘•London Times,” in an interview in the “Chicago Tribune” of September 29, says: — 1 . “The Americans are so busy with tlio affairs of their own gigantic continentthat they have not time to devote to the study of European politics, which are more kaleidoscopic, in their changes than are- those of the United States.

“There is an impression in this country that some hostility exists between the people of Great Britain and of united Germany. • . . , . “I. know the Germans intimately. From chiitlhcood I have- travelled extensively throughout most of the German States. i have many German family connections, and 1 venture, to sa-v that, outside the usual body of Anglophobias one meets in every country', their© is little hostility to the British on the. part of the Germans; and, on the other hand, there is in England no dislike, of Germany, an contrairc, our statesmen are adopting German legislation to our needs, and if imitation be tfie sincerest form of flattery the Germans must be- well pleased witii our proposed reproduction of their working men’s insurance, the labor bureau, and a great many other legislative improvements, that, it appears to me, would be just as vital to the United States as they seem to be to Great Britain. “Why, then, if so happy a state of affairs exists between any section or people in England to suggest the possibility of war? “Turn back to 1869.. Was there any friction between France and Prussia? There was no hostility on either side. But any reader of BuscTie’s ‘Bismarck,’ or other standard authority on the Great German Empire builder, will acknowledge there was immense preparation oil the part of Germany—a preparation that was kept- secret, as far as possible, and which, also, is being kept secret by Germany to-day. “Ms to what- is transpiring in the German shipbuilding yams, -we more or less know that- by 1912 Germany, in ships of super-Dreadnought class, will be the equal of England. “If we were in your position, able to grow our own food on our own acres, it would matter little to us if we l had merely an ornamental navy. But howfew Americans realise that our food is brought us from Australia, Canada, and your western vheatfiekls, from the Argentine 'Republic—nearly all of it from over the sea ?

•‘Two or three days ago I -was at San Francisco, where your Governmenthas spent an immense sum of money in fortifying the Golden Gate against an imaginary Japanese attack. Throughout the greater part of your Pacific Slope the Japanese, depleted as they are by a great" Var, infinitely inferior as they are to you in population, situated an immense distance from you, with no coaling station on your shores, arc looked upon as a dangerous opponent.

“Evc-n if it were possible for them to cross the Pacific to attack you— a more than ridiculous assumption, having in view a hundred and one contingencies, including the Anglo-Japanese alliance—what' damage could ’they do ? “Now, assuming that the. Japanese are 11 hours distant, have a population one-third larger than your own, and are constructing a' navy as rapidly as you, would it not be- wise to give some careful consideration to your own position ?

“I see it is suggested in the American papers that there is some kind of a scare in England. I wish there were. Our public lias been warned by the Prime- Minister, by the Minister.of Foreign Affairs, by an any of our leading public men, such as Mr. Frederick Harrison and Lord Roberts; by prominent journalists, including Dir. Stead, and by others, but they have not yet, as you say, begun to sit up and take notice.

“Leaders on that side of politics to which I belong, including I hope, Lord Rosebery, Mr. Balfour, and Mr. Chamberlain, have also directed attention, to the need for national precaution, but without avail.

‘ ‘We have to-day a superb navy ; we have in the line of battle war vessels such as the Indomitable or the Inflexible, now- in New Yoi J k, ‘ which are as efficient- in their sphere as our Mauretanias and Lusitanias arc in theirs. We are not wasting time on aeroplanes and gas bags, but are developing submersibles and wireless.

“Why, then, worry? Those of our people who think as I do are looking ahead. '' { “We have, the official figures of the German naval programme up to 1912, Ayhich are serious enough, but we know that these figures are just as inaccurate as were the figures madei.public by Germany prior to tlie Franco-Frussian war in 1871. We know that the German press unlike that of the United States and Great Britain, is prohibited from telling the truth about these matters. We know that at the Hague Peace Conference Germany declined to discuss the limitation of armaments or the use of floating mines at sea. “These are a- few- of the reasons why many of our younger men think it time that Great Britain should respond effectively to the naval programme- of Germany. “As to the attitude of the United States, I have no doubt that it mil be strictly impartial as was ours during the Spanish American war. We do not expect assistance from any outside source.

“Already our colonies have- shown much greater alacrity in preparation than has the Old Country. Little New Zealand is taxing itself 20 dollars a head for man woman and child. Australia is raising an army of 270,000 men, and lias offered a handsome naval contribution. Canada is discussing a navy, which in no way. could be- antagonistic to the United States, but will enable it to protect the St Lawrence on the one- hand, and on the other British Columbia, where we already have .a magnificent station at Esquimault.”