SOME DAY

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 245, 14 September 1929, Page 10

SOME DAY

WHEN RUSSIA PAYS. RELIEF FOR BRITAIN. ■Mr Winston Churchill visions the day when Russia, returning to civilisation, will pay her debts to Britain. The former Chancellor of Britain’s Exchequer wants this money saved for the British taxpayer. Under the Balfour arrangement with the United States the latter was to get nearly everything from Britain that Britain got from the creditor nations in Europe. If Russia comes to her senses and pays up, this money should be kept by Britain. “In my opinion the Reparations Conference reached a very satisfactory conclusion,”- said Mr Churchill, speaking before a large audience at Vancouver on the conclusion of liis tour across Canada. “No British Government could have accepted the Young plan as it stood,’ he continued. “Mr Snowden lias been right both in his stubborn resistance and in his final concession. The amount of money in dispute is not large enough to justify setting back the whole re-settlement of Europe. “It had been my intention, had I continued in office, t-o take the opportunity afforded by any deviation, however slight, from the principles of the Balfour Note, to re-staio that principle in terms more advantageous to Britain.' “It should have been made clear that the Russian debt to Britain of nearly £600,000,090 stood outside the selfdenying limitations of the Balfour Note. France and Italy should have been invited to agree o this as an offset to any fresh concession we made. Perhaps the settlement of the Russian debt may seem remote, but it is by no means impossible. If in ten or fifteen years’ time Russia resumes the garb of civilisation and effects a debt settlement with her creditors, the British taxpayer ought to have some relief. The Hague Conference was the moment for obtaining the necessary assent of France and Italy to this restatement of the British position. I hope this has not been overlooked.” THE LESSON OF PALESTINE. “What an object lesson! What a warning!” said Mr Churchill, referring to the recent events in Palestine. The lamentable occurrences there, he said, were only a foretaste of what would happen throughout Egypt and India if the protecting and controlling hand of Britain were withdrawn. He had no doubt that the harsh dismissal of Lord Lloyd, former High Commissioner of Egypt, and the proposal of the Socialist Government to clear the British garrisons out of Cairo and Alexandria had been taken by the Arabs of Palestine as a sign of British weakness, and that the time was ripe to strike. The result had been massacre and pillage of a horrible character, requiring troops and warships to be hurried to the scene, and involving more bloodshed before order was restored. WORSE IN EGYPT? This was an object lesson and a vvarning, he said. If the British garrison was withdrawn from Cairo, and if Britain repudiated her obligation to protect the minorities and foreigners in Egypt, the scenes of carnage which had disgraced Palestine would be reproduced on a far. larger scale throughout the whole Nile'Valley,, with the result again that either the Foreign Powers would intervene to protect their own citizens, or we should be compelled to return in far larger strength, after great expense and severe fighting. ROOM FOR BOTH. Such would be the inevitable consequence of any want of confidence shown by Britain m her mission in the East. For the moment, added Mr Churchill, there was nothing to be done but to support the British Government in restoring order and peace in Palestine. He had no doubt that the House of Commons would vote, by overwhelming majorities, any money or men that might be needed. The Jews had at least as good a title to make Palestine their home as the Arabs, he said. There was no reason why the Jews and the Arabs should not dwell side by side. FARMS OUT OF DESERT. The Jews had not done any harm to the Arab interests. On the contrary, they had brought a great deal of wealth and civilisation into the country. They had created gardens and fertile watered farms out of the blistering desert, and had built smiling townships and ordered institutions where previously there had been nothing but squalour and desolation. No British political party. Socialist, Conservative, or Liberal, would repudiate the undertakings made in the time of war to the Zionist movement.