LEAGUE OF NATIONS UNION

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 63, 15 March 1934, Page 20

LEAGUE OF NATIONS UNION

. , ,» > ■ At the last meeting of the Dominion Council of the League of Nations Union; presided over by the Rev. F. H. Wilkinson, deputy chairman, a resolution was passed expressing deep regret at the illness of the president (Rev. Dr. Gibb), and hope of1 his speedy restoration to health. The council accepted with regret the resignations of Messrs. H. P. Kidson and W. J.- McEldowney, the former having been appointed principal o£ Otago Boys'. High School and the latter having removed to England, and the Rev. H. W. Newell and Mr. R. H. Hooper were elected to the vacancies. The council expressed its sympathy with.the Wellington branch in the loss sustained by the departure from New Zealand of Mr. W. J. McEldowney, who for several years had ably filled the position of president. It was decided that the following manifesto from the president (Dr. Gibb) be sent to all branches:— - ; "It is only too evident that the League of Nations is facing a situation which imperils its standing and authority. The failure to deal adequately with the Manchurian problem, the- long and thus far fruitless discussions of the Disarmament Conference, the withdrawal of Japan and Germany from both League and Conference, have, shaken confidence in the League's power to preserve the peac? ~of the world. The crisis is serious, but it can be met and overcome. All that is required is that the members of the League should faithfully carry out their solemn pledges, and especially that the people of the nations should rally to the support of the League. If they do so, the League will successfully surmount the difficulties now confronting it; if they do not, the issue will undoubtedly be serious. '"The British Government is manifestly striving at all costs to maintain the League as an organisation indispensable to the transaction in international affairs and the prevention of a new race in armaments. Mr. Baldwin has of late more than once said that if the League fails, nothing can save the world from uttermost disaster. And it may fail—that is a possibility which should be graven deep in the hearts of every lover of peace today. So should also the fact that it rests with ourselves, with the people, to prevent this unspeakable calamity. With incisive earnestnesft. 'Headway,' the organ of the British League of Nations Union, has from first ■to last insisted that the people's unions are not less significant than the League itself. The King has at different times emphasised the same thing. The Manchester Guardian,' in a recent article, says: 'Our only hope still is to organise through the League a common front, not in order to oppose Germany or any single Power, but in order to preserve the common peace from a common calamity. It can still be done.' "The executive appeals to the branches to take these matters into their most serious consideration and to embark on a new and sustained membership crusade. Appeal is also made to the New Zealand Press to direct the attention of their readers to the seriousness of the world situation today and the urgency of the need of standing by the League, and the principle which it enshrines, 'the maintenance of world peace by world co-operation.' The League is more necessary now than ever "