The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1946 GUARDIANSHIP OF WORLD PEACE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 12, 16 August 1946, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1946 GUARDIANSHIP OF WORLD PEACE

Schools In Syria French scholastic establishments in Syria will be re-opening next September according to M. Saadallah Djabri, President of the Syrian Council. “France has asked permission through its diplomatic channels to re-open French Schools in Syria” he stated. “The permission will be granted and the schools will open on September Ist on condition that they conform to the curricula laid down by the Minister of Public Education and that they remain under the control of the Government. In cases of infractions the schools will be closed. The French Schools will receive treatment no different from that given any other foreign establishments.”

HOW wholeheartedly the United States has “pinned its faith to the United Nations banner” was demonstrated by the Secretary of State, Mr J. F. Byrnes, in his address to the Overseas Press Club. Americans are not a people who do things by halves. After the last war they flatly rejected the League of Nations and thereby wrecked the chances of success for that organisation. On this occasion they have based their whole foreign policy upon the Charter of the United Nations to the exclusion of any commitments to individual nations. “We will gang up against no State,” Mr Byrnes said. “We will do nothing to break the world into exclusive blocs or spheres of influence. The world is one and indisivible.” This is a long stride from that isolation which for long guided American foreign policy. “No nation is complete master of its fate,” Mr Byrnes said. “We are all bound together for better or worse.” The United States has accepted the policy that the United Nations must be “made to work.” It had the choice, since isolation was abandoned, of making an alliance with one or more of the great Powers that emerged from the war, or of refusing to “gang up,” and it has chosen to place its faith in international co-operation without alliance with. any. In effect, world power has, as a result of the war, been concentrated in Britain, the United States and Russia, with great Power status acknowledged for France and China. Germany and Japan are the absentees. Mr Byrnes maintains that no* one of the three greater Powers can safely break the peace if the others stand united in defence of the United Nations Charter; therefore present Power relationships preclude domination of the world by any one of the great Powers. This position, of course, appeared to exist before the war, but it did-not prevent Germany in an excess of confidence and aggressiveness throwing out a challenge. But Germany hoped that not all her possible enemies would join the fray. The situation has been simplified by the war to the extent that only one possible threat could arise, and that is from Russia. Therefore Russia holds the key to world peace, as far as anyone can see into the future. If Russia’s intentions are peaceful, there is no reason why the world should not enjoy peace indefinitely. Britain or the United States will not provoke war, and no other nation apart from the Big Three dare challenge the world. World peace, then, depends upon the relations which are maintained by Russia with Britain and the United States. “Only an inexcusable tragedy of errors could cause a serious conflict between us in the future,” Mr Byrnes said, and he is right. Britain and the United States must give Russia credit for peaceful intentions and on that basis hammer out a system of new relations and new understandings. These will not necessarily come from “appeasements” and endless concessions but are more likely to result from frank discussions such as recently occurred in the Security Council of the United Nations. There are many difficulties and dangers in the international situation but the world holds out a better prospect for peace than ever before if that one condition—a workable relationship between the Western Powers and Russia—is fulfilled. Surely it is not too much to expect. ‘

“Colossus” on'Loan The officers of the most modern warship in the French Navy have been invited aboard the oldest warship in the world. . . . The officers of the “Richelieu,” which arrived in Portsmouth on August 2, were invited to sine aboard the “Victory,” the ship Nelson commanded nearly a century and a half ago. The “Richelieu” went to Portsmouth to take delivery of the aircraft carrier “Colossus” which the English Navy is lending France for a few years. The ceremony of changing the colours took place on August 6 and on the same day a number of English Officers were decorated aboard the “Richelieu.”