"A FORWARD STEP"

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 225, 23 September 1929, Page 7

"A FORWARD STEP"

LEAGUE ASSEMBLY. Henderson Reviews Happenings At Geneva. BRITAIN'S BIG PART. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 12 noon.) HUGBY, September 22. Mr. Arthur Henderson, British Foreign Secretary, who arrived in London yesterday evening from Geneva, stated to Press representatives at Victoria Station- that it was his firm belief that the t«mth Assembly of the League of Nations would be a conspicuous milestone on the road towards the brotherhood of mankind. "On the paramount questions of arbitration, security and disarmament the British delegation has, I venture to say, spoken with the voice of conviction. It is not only by speeches that we have shown our determination to go ahead. "When the Prime Minister announced that the Governments of the British Commonwealth had all decided to sign the optional clause before the end oi the Assembly his words made a tremendous impression, and they have had tho practical result that no fewer than twelve new signatures will have been o-iven before the Assembly separates next week. "Remember that when the signatures have been ratified the four great European Powers, Great Britain, Fiance, Germany and Italy, will all be bound to send their legal disputes to the Permanent Court of International Justice for settlement, and other very important countries like Brazil, Holland, Czechoslovakia, the Scandinavian States and others will also be similarly bound. "We have also hopes that the other crreat nations will follow suit. This is, therefore, an advance ill the sphere ot arbitration, and if it is not more than the first step, it is nevertheless a big one. "In other ways this Assembly will be a memorable one. There was unanimously passed a protocol which will, it is hoped, enable the United States of America to accept the statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice. That alone is a great achieve-

nient. "We have also endeavoured to bring the Covenant into consonance with the pact of peace, so that it will be clear from both of these instruments that the nations of the world have renounced war as an act of national policy. "A committee lias been set up to consider our proposals in this connection on disarmament.

"Lord Cecil, who remains as the chief British delegate, made, on Thursday, a powerful appeal, intended to strengthen the hands of the Preparatory Commission in their work. Criticism has sometimes been made that the principal naval Powers ought to give a lead in this work.

"The Assembly was therefore deeply interested in the Prime _ Minister's account of his conversations with General Dawes, and the Preparatory Disarmament Commission is eagerly awaiting the results of our efforts- and the decisions of the five-Power naval conference in the hope that they may achieve the effective limitation of naval armaments.

"We hope also that we have laid the foundation for solid progress in economic co-operation in respect of matters that are vital to British trade.

"Following upon a remarkable speech made by the President of the Board of Trade, Mr. William Graham, before the Assembly, we have put forward practical proposals for a conference on hours, wages and conditions in the coal industry and for agreements for limitation, and in the end we hope for reduction, of tariff barriers.

"Of course in anything so controversial as tariff or wages, the questions of an agreement must |fe difficult to secure, and if we were to endeavour to rush our action wo might spoil all chance of success. Our proposals have nevertheless had most satisfactory results, and we hope that in a few months a conference on the coal question will meet and that an economic armistice, as it has been called, which is to bo a preliminary to a general tariff reduction conference, will have been agreed to."