BAN ON SOVIET RECOMMENDED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20120, 14 December 1939, Page 5

BAN ON SOVIET RECOMMENDED

FULL ASSISTANCE TO FINLAND OPINION OF COMMITTEE OF THIRTEEN REPORT TO GO BEFORE THE ASSEMBLY ARGENTINE CENSURE OF AGGRESSOR (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Dee. IT, 12 noon.) LONDON, Dec. 13. Press reports from Geneva state that the Committee of Thirteen appointed by the League Assembly to discuss the Finnish appeal has adopted the report and resolution recommending the expulsion of Russia from the League, ancl assistance for Finland. The committee’s decision will have to be placed before the Assembly. The committee appointed a sub-committee consisting of representatives of Bolivia, France, Portugal, England - and .Sweden to complete a draft report for the Assembly. This sub-committee unanimously adopted a draft resolution implying, but not specifically demanding, Russia’s expulsion. The Argentine delegate told tlie Assembly that unless Russia was ejected, Argentina would resign from the League, lie demanded the application of paragraph four, article lb of the covenant, lie declared:'“The question is whether we will continue to allow the perpetrator of this act of aggression to sit among us. My Government considers this impossible. This is not the first member State which lias unjustifiably becnG attacked, but the case is attended with such circumstances as"compel my Government to pass the most severe judgment. The aggressor lias denied that she is at war,'disdaining even an outward form of legality and therefore placing herself outside the'covenant. We need no longer be restrained by the desire to act cautiously and weigh our responsibilities with the object of preserving peace. We are confronted by a state of war.” Still Capable of Gesture The Argentine delegate said that the League has lost its coercive force, but was still capable of a gesture against: those who resorted to force. This gesture the League could not refuse to make unless it was prepared to resign its functions in a spirit of suicidal defeat, Russia’s invasion constituted an insult to every member of the League, . Because of the League’s recent weakness there had grown up a tacit agreement to refrain from entrusting it with important political activity. Not even Poland’s agony ruffled the League, although it was the origin of the conflagration. “If we wish to spare the world from the abyss opening before it, if we desire .the rebirth of international law, it behoves us to discard material considerations and rally the moral forces which have fallen into oblivion,” he concluded. Argentina’s proposal was referred to the committee without debate. Finland, South Africa and Bolivia' were - elected to the Council. The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press states that the Soviet Prime Minister and Foreign. Minister, M. Molotov, rejected the League’s offer ,to mediate and accordingly sent a message to the Russian-Finnish committee. M. Molotov’s reply to the League was broadcast from Moscow at 1.30 a.m It was the first Russian announcement of the League’s offer of mediation. Suggestion of Withdrawal Diplomatic circles in Moscow forecast the Soviet s early withdrawal from the League. The Moscow correspondent of the New York Times, Mr. G. E. R, Gcdye, says that the opinion in diplomatic circles in Russia is evenly divided on the question as to' whether the Soviet rulers will satisfy their ever-sensitive • feelings Qver questions of prestige by resigning from the League and thereby further compromising the liberty of action in respect to Germany, as Germany clearly hopes, or whether they will pocket their prestige for the sake of the practical advantages inherent in remaining in the League. It is thought that the resignation would bring nearer the formation of an anti-Soviet world bloc, which is a "nightmare always haunting the Soviet. Thus some feel that Russia may submit to the rebuke and even see practical opposition to the Finnish adventure in order to retain membership of the League,