WAR PREVENTION

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 128, 26 November 1929, Page 9

WAR PREVENTION

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

GROWING IN STRENGTH

ANNUAL ASSEMBLY

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 4th October. Sir James Parr has como back from Geneva after a strenuous mouth there, having attended what, perhaps, was the most momentous session held since the League of Nations- was established. In addition to watching New Zealand's interest at the annual assembly, Sir James had also entrusted to him the carrying through of the important Conversion Loan, involving nearly £10,----000,000 to New Zealand. . The High Commissioner made a hurried visit to London, travelling by air, and concluded the necessary arrangements regarding the- loan. It is understood in the city that the result of this visit .' was of great advantage to the Dominion_ in the terms of the underwriting, which took place the day after his return from Switzerland, and the day before the rise in the bank rate was announced. Asked as to his present opinion of the League, the High Commissioner said: "I am satisfied that it has come to stay. Tear by year it is growing in strength and authority. Whenever a war is now threatened between smaller Powers the League intervenes and stops it—as witness Chile and Peru this last year, and the rise in the Balkans two years ago, when two nations had crossed the border lines with their armies and were fighting. In such / cases the League intervenes with much force and says to the belligerents: You have got to stop this fighting; if not, we shall exercise financial and economic boycott and resort to other measures sanctioned by the covenant of the League.' The League thus soon brings the- belligerents back to a state of peace. ' ; "I should like to say that, in niv judgment, this recent meeting has been j the most important session for many years past," continued Sir James. "The Briand-Kellogg Pact signed in Paris a_ year ago, under which some sixty na.tions have pledged themselves to outlaw all wars, has given a new impetus to the peace movement, because it has brought America in as a virtual partner of the League. "Then, again, perhaps an outstanding feature of the League this season lies in the fact that in the Prime Minister of England (Mr. Ramsay MacDonald), his Foreign Minister (Mr. A. Henderson, a very capable and shrewd man), and a strengthened delegation— the British representation was possibly the largest that has yet visited Geneva —rather made the pace. The British Socialists at Geneva this time led even the idealists in idealism. There can be no doubt that Mr. Mac Donald and Mr. Henderson, for the moment, captured the moral leadership of the League so far as the smaller nations are concerned, such was the effect of their oratory and declarations. I willingly pay this tribute to the British delegation.

THE OPTIONAL CLAUSE,

"At the same time, I noted with considerable interest, while watching tho proceedings .closely, that ,the Prime Minister of Britain and his colleagues at Geneva, when it came to translating oratory into action, exhibited considerable 'care for our national rights. Moreover, there was another aspect to the British intervention this time: Mr. Bamsay MaeDonald was determined to sign the Optional Clause binding Great Britain to accept the jurisdiction of the Foreign Court at The Hague in all international disputes. It became a question of how far . the Dominions could follow him. lam pleased to say that the British Ministry exhibited considerable patience and tolerance, and yielded ye.™ easily to the New Zealand and Australian point of view when they Tealised that we could only accept the Optional Clause subject to very important reservations and conditions."

One may here mention that after Ireland withdrew from the deliberations and signed the Optional Clause ■without reservations, thb discussions were continued. It is well known in Geneva that Sir James Parr's views ultimately prevailed to this extent, that reservations which were suggested by the Government and himsVlf were accepted by Great Britain and by the rest of the Dominions, and eventually it was signed. New Zealand's representative followed Mr. Henderson next in order to the table, and the clause wa3 signed with much pomp and formality in the- famous glassroom, Mr. Henderson accepting the formula of reservations and conditions safeguarding our national right on certain matters which had been agreed upon in previous private conferences of the British delegation. The terms- of the formula in which His Majesty's ' Government in the United Kingdom signed are as follows:— . "On behalf of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, and subject to ratification, I accept as compulsory ipso facto and without special convention on condition of reciprocity the jurisdiction of the Court in conformity with Article 36, paragraph 2, of the Statute of the Court, for a period of ten years and thereafter until such time as notice may be given to terminate the acceptance, over • all disputes arising after the ratification of the present declaration with regard to situations or facts subsequent to tho said ratification:

"Other than disputes in regard to which the parties to tho dispute have agreed or shall agree to have recourse to some other method of peaceful settlement, and disputes with the Government of any other member of the League which is a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, all of which disputes shall be'settled in such manner as the parties have agreed or' shall agree, and disputes with regard to the questions which, by international law, fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of tho United Kingdom, and subject to the condition that His Majesty's Government reserves the right to require that proceedings in the Court shall be suspended in respect of any dispute which has been submitted to, and is under consideration by, the Council of the League of Nations, provided that notice to suspend is given after the dispute has been submitted to the Council and is given within ten days of the notification of the initiation of the proceedings in the Court, and provided also that such suspension shall be limited to a period of twelve months or such longer period as can be agreed by the parties to the dispute or determined by a decision of all the members of the Council other than the parties to the dispute." Sir James Parr, for New Zealand, and Sir Muhammed Habibullah for India, signed on precisely the same terms, but Mr. Louw (South Africa) added to them the observation that his Government would prefer that interImperial disputes should go to a special Court.

STRONGER DELEGATION URGED,

"Altogether," continued the High Commissioner in his review of the meeting, "the Assembly of tho League this time was extarordinarily ' interesting. I have now attended four of these annual assemblies, and my. faith in the

League has grown year by year. I know it is difficult for New Zealanders 13,000 miles away to comprehend all that the League means and really stands for. But my friends in New Zealand can take it from me that we should, as a national policy, back the League, and that we should go to Geneva each year more strongly represented if we desire to be considered as •anything more than a mero junior nation among the great peoples of the world. It would be an excellent thing if some really representative New Zealanders could attend, because tho experience would be very valuable as well as interesting.''. Last year there was an outcry for economy, notably from the British delegates; this year, although the members of the Fourth Committee have fought hard to ensure economies, the net result has been an increase on the original Budget presented by the Fourth Committee of 559,742 Swiss francs (about £22,250), the total Budget, which includes the expenses of the International Labour Office, being 28 - 210,248 Swiss francs (about £1,121---680).

The general opinion is that the supplementary demands are not only necessary for the several new tasks to be Undertaken by the League, but that m a measure they indicate the growing vitality of the League. The rapporteur, M. Botella (Spain), in presenting the Budget, remarked that requests came in for tho setting up of various committees, mainly committees of jurists. It was true that thero were many jurists in tho world and many of them had not much to do, but tho League of Nations did not exist for unemployed jurists.