Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 3, 1947 TWO YEARS OF PEACE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 75, 3 September 1947, Page 4

Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 3, 1947 TWO YEARS OF PEACE

TWO years ago last month the people of the allied nations shared a rejoicing that! Japan, following quickly in the wake of Germany, had capitulated, and that the second world war had ended. Between VE-Day and VJ-Day the problems of the future had begun to manifest themselves, and the succeeding two years have shown all too clearly that victory in war has not been sufficient in itself to ensure peace and security. That the future would not be one of relaxation but would demand the continued concentration of the energy and resourcefulness of the allied nations was reflected in the address to the Empire by His Majesty the King, when he said immediately after the surrender of Japan: We have spent freely of all that we had. Now we shall have to labour and work hard to restore what has been lost, and to establish peace on ■ unshakeable fundations, not alone on material strength but also on moral authority. Three months earlier on the defeat of Germany, Britain’s war-time Prime Minister, Mr Churchill, had spoken in similar vein : I wish I could tell you tonight that all our toils and troubles were over . . . But I must warn you . . . that there is a lot to do and that you must be prepared for further sacrifices to great causes if you are not to fall back into a rut off inertia, confusion of aim and craven fear of being great. For the people of Britain the two years of peace have brought no relaxation. On the contrary, they face today problems and difficulties that call for patience, wisdom, high ideals, frugal living and hard work no less than the war years called for courage and endurance. In the international sphere the intervening two years have brought into formal being the United Nations and its various suborganisations working together for world peace and security and the general improvement of mankind. Flaws and loopholes have been found in the Charter, and on more than one occasion they have been exploited. In a number of matters,

such as the approval of trusteeship arrangements, the United Nations has proved its effectiveness. As yet, however, it has not faced the major test of safeguarding against largescale warfare. Until this test is made there can be no final judgment on the efficiency of the successor to the League of Nations, nor can the contributing nations’ earnestness to seek peace be proved or disproved. Since the cessation of hostilities Japan has remained under military control. Demilitarisation has been completed, a hew constitution has been drawn up, and a Government has been elected pledged to the principles of democracy and the outlawing of aggression. There is yet to be completed a formal peace treaty, the first step towards which will be the Empire conference at Canberra now in session, followed by discussions between the eleven members of the Far Eastern Commission and by the Big Four. The outcome of these discussions will be of vital importance fo New Zealand, and it is regrettable that neither Parliament nor the people have been given an opportunity of formulating an opinion on the issue at stake. The New Zealand delegates to the Empire conference and to the eleven-nation discussions will not carry with them the considered views of the people for whom they will be authorised and expected to speak. The second year of peace comes to a close with a prevailing sense of insecurity and uncertainty not only in the international sphere, but in the internal structure of New Zealand society, its economy and its general welfare. Peace has brought serious problems, material and otherwise, to this Dominion, as it has to other countries and to the new world organisation. The solution of these problems is proving no less difficult than the concentration of combined efforts for the common and urgent purpose of winning the war. Yet that solution must be found if the purpose of the victory of two years ago is to be served and if, in the words of the Charter, “succeeding generations are to be saved from the scourge of war.”