28 DECEMBER 1918, Page 2

It is reported from Brussels that our Government have announced

their intention of sending supplies to our armies on the Rhine by way of the Schelde and Dutch Limburg. Holland, being neutral, has a technical right to prevent war stores from passing up the Schelde and over the Dutch railways. But she has forfeited the moral right to do so by her persistently unneutral attitude in favour of the enemy. Before the armistice she allowed German war stores to pass through Limburg; since the armistice she has per- milted large bodies of German troops to march through Limburg, thus escaping capture. The Allies can now insist on receiving similar privileges. The railways in Belgium and Northern France were so seriously damaged by the -enemy that it will not be easy to supply the Allied armies on the Rhine with food and stores during the next few months, unless the sea-route to Antwerp and the Dutch railways are made available for the purpose. At the coming settlement, Holland's Treaty rights over the Lower Schelde must be abolished, so that Antwerp may have free access to the sea in war as well as in peace.