APPEAL MADE FOR PEACE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22506, 14 September 1938, Page 11

APPEAL MADE FOR PEACE

Mr Jordan’s Speech | At Geneva IMPLIED WARNING TO AGGRESSORS (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (Received Septembex 13, 9 a.m.) LONDON, September 12. The High Commissioner for New Zealand (Mr W. J. Jordan), who is president of the League of Nations Council, opened the meeting of the Assembly to-day. “The world is not free from wax* like sentiment, fears, or even actual strife, yet the people, without exception, desire peace,” said Mr Jordan. “Unanimity Is rare in human affairs, and we now see the confusion following some countries’ abandonment of faith with the Covenant. The nations committing offences to which the Covenant is opposed all recognise that the Covenant is not working to the extent the founders had hoped. Some are of the opinion that drastic amendments are necessary to put the Covenant right. Others, including New Zealand, hold that the defect is not in the Covenant itself. “The League’s detractors will not fail to re'mark that Geneva was not the scene of recent appeasements, but the Assembly is happy to see peace wherever it is served by acts of good faith, neighbourly conduct, and resistance to aggression. Surely wt all need to recognise that national welfare is the sum total of the welfare of individuals, not only of our own people, but of the stranger within the gates. There is intolerance born of fear and injustice practised by those who yesterday themselves were its victims. Common sense and mutual help are needed to build a better order. Aerial Warfare Condemned “One form of warfare the indiscriminate barbarity of which is unive_ sally condemned is aerial bombardment. Will not the nations agree to its abolition? It is for you, and not me, to say the word. “What has happened in Europe is of the greatest concern to every country in the world. We hope that peace will be preserved. If it is violated, it will not be' possible for the violators to count on neutrality even from countries that appear to be most remote.”

Mr de Valera, in urging a world peace conference, expressed the hjpe that the Assembly would close with the immediate dangers past. The way was “paved for a conference based on justice to all peoples, which was possible before a war. but almost impossible after a war. Mr de Valera deplored the present weakness of the League, which he attributed to the failure of the peoples to realise the necessity of bending their wills to the acceptance of necessary sacrifices of selfish advantage involved in the partial pooling of sovereignty. They had not perceived that whatever they demanded for themselves as. rights they must be prepared to accord to all others. He asked the Assembly to keep its faith in the League as the only instrument by which the prevention of war could be achieved. The results of war were almost always and inevitably unjust. Mr de Valera expressed the hope f'at the nineteenth Assembly might see an end brought to the dangers at present threatening peace, and a beginning made towards what he described as a great conference of peace based on justice. A peace conference of that kind was possible before, but scarcely ever after a war. The peoples of the world wanted it. Mr de Valera was elected President of the Assembly by 39 votes to three.

Empire Unity Affirmed

The Geneva correspondent of the Australian Associated Press states that a sudden hush greeted the unexpected references to the Czech crisis at the end of Mr Jordan’s speech. It was believed that his address would not directly refer to Czechoslovakia. This was Mr Jordan’s intention, but at the last moment he added what is regarded as a most significant passage. Delegates plainlyshowed that they had not missed the implications of his declaration that an aggressor could not count on the neutrality of “even the countries appearing most remote.” This is accepted as the first official affirmation of Empire unity in the event of war. It can especially be regarded as such, because it is understood that the British Government was apprised of Mr Jordan’s addition, in which it entirely concurred as giving an indication of the tenor of recent exchanges between Whitehall and the Dominions.

Mr Jordan’s sincei'ity and dignity at a moment when the League is weighted down with apprehension, profoundly impressed the crowded Assembly. Delegates also manifested a lively interest when he urged the abolition of aerial bombardment.

The presidential address has been for years dutifully acknowledged, but Mr Jordan sat down amid prolonged applause. The Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Mr R. L. Butler), who is the head of the British delegation, later told Mr Jordan that his speech had greatly gratified Britain because, owing to the complexities of rotation, New Zealand might not again presidentially address the Assembly for another 30 years.