U.N.A. SPOKESMAN WARNS..

Chronicle (Levin), 11 June 1949, Page 4

U.N.A. SPOKESMAN WARNS..

"You The People Must Decide Future: Don't Decide In Ignorance,,

The United Nations 'Organisation was a good thing, but the ideals behind it were greater than the organisation itself, said the Hon. T. Bloodworth when addressing members of- the iJnited Nations Association of Levin at its quarterly public meeting on Thursday night. The United Nations admittedly had its fiaws, but it was - only four years old and was becoming established. It was up to the people ;of the world, in whose name the Charter was issued, to see that it did not fail, and that everything carried' out under their name was fully understood by theni.

The essence of democracy, Mr. Bloodworth said, was that,, the peop;e sfiould decide in matters of foreign policy. There was a danger that they mlght decide in ignorance.. Knowledge- was the main thing and ;Lhat knowledge could be secured through membership of Jnited Nations associations. Law Or Anarchy? The United Nations was endeavouring .to establish a rule of law cetween nations. The- a ternative fco that was anarchy be.ween oations. Anarchy meant a third world war and beyond that there was no future. A third world war,. he warhed,! must mean the^ end of freedom and Ihe end of de'mocracy. No one could contemplate 'Ihe destructi n thdt would result. People might ask, but why the defence costs? Defence costs were there because some nations feared that o-.hers might not abide by the laws. Half of a nation's materials and funds were used in defence-. Surelv it wou'd not be too much to ask a few hours — a few days — in every year fco help preserve peace and democracy. Emphasising that the peop'e of fche world must strengthen the Unite'd Nations by keeping all the member coimtries in it, Mr. Bloodworth drew the meeting's a''tention to the overcrowded neighbours' of the Pacific democratic countrles. Half the population of the wor d lives next door to us and it was ■lowards us that the centre of dis-

turbance was moving. "It has been safd^ that the United Nations is a 'brawling cockoit.' Better that by far than have bombed cities .and* a cos'cly war." Discussion, after all, was the demccratic way of ironing things out and there was ■ satisfaction in knowing that the United Nations got agreement on^some things. Democracy's Struggle. Wi'lh 59 nations thinking • and speaking in different languages, one could not always get comp.ete unanimityy Democracy, after all, was only 100 years old and ha'd always been struggling for an existence, whereas dictato-rship was generations old. Unfortunately, . fche achievements of the United Nations, unlike its failures, were never headline news, but neverthe^ less there had been achievements and many small nations and others, too, had taken advan'fcage of it's machinery. India v/as a far, more pe&ceful country than it might otherwise-' have been, said the speaker. Israel was a' nation today and after 2000 | years its people h?.d a home that ,took its p ace and was recognised }by the wor'd. It was in that cause that the United Nations had sufU'ered its first marlyr. It had to be remembered when considering the work of the United Nations, he said, that it was not in existence to make peace, but to maintain peace when it.had been made. The Charter of the United Nations was man's war against war itself.