PROBLEMS OF FOREIGN POLICY.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 108, 24 May 1937, Page 6

PROBLEMS OF FOREIGN POLICY.

From their very nature it wa & gssential that the communic'ations made by the British Foreign Minister to the delegates at the Imperial Confereiice sliould, in the meantime at any rate, be treated as cynfidential. The -meetings that are being held are sometinves reifcrred to as "'secret, ' a •word with popular implicatioRs that are not at all appropriate. In one way of lookin^g at them they are family conclaves that* are nobody else'g business* bufc, in this particular ' connection, they may be moire aptly regarded as sittings of an Imperial Cabinet whose paroceedings are fully entitled to be condneted in privacy. Mx. Eden's information had itself no doubt been gathered frcwn many sources that it might be impolitic, not to say impnoper, to divulge publicly, whereas his own conclusions are naJturally meant only for the ears of those with whom he is consailting. It was therefore not to be expected that we should ha.ve uny very full details of the various dspects of the internationa] situation he has been called upon to lay before the Conference, though in a general way we may take press surmises to be fairly well grounded so far as they go. As a basis for consideration Mr. Eden deemed it right at the outset to state three cardinal points in the policy of the British Government. In the first place, disclaiming for itself all thought of ajnything more than defenee of the Empire, it stands for using all possible legitimate means towards establishing peace among the nations of the world. In the second, he pronounced for, the preservation of the principle of collective security on which the Covenant of the League of Nations is founded. In the third placej he reminded the Conferenee of the obligations, outside the Covenant, to which Great Britain was afready committed, the chief of these being her undertaking to resist any unprovoked aggressive movement against either Belgium or France, with the door left open for Germany to come into the pact on a like footing. Minor undertakings are for the protection of Egypt and Iraq. In this preliminary statement there is, of course, nothing new as it coincides with what he had to say six months ago and has once at least repeated since. But beyond this there must have been a very great deal that would, wbjen set out in full explanatory detail, be fresh to the ears of, his listeners. Great Britain 's interests in the preservation ojf the "status quo" across the Channel would already be Well understood' i but not so probably her concern witb developments in Central | and Eastern Europe, and more especially sidll in the Mediterranean. In all these respects most of what he had to tell would be of a highly confidential charafcter, while present relations with Italy would lend peculiar delicacy to his references to that country. Indeed, it would seem just now as if, so far as Europe is concerned, Signor Mussolini was the main disturbing factor. All the good promise that could be read into the understanding with Italy that was given definite shape only at the beginning of this year have since been largely dispelled. Thei* Italy deciared that she had nothing in contemplation that would be immical to Great Britain's. or indeed any other country's right to the use of the inland sea as a trade route for the Empire 's shipping. Within the last month or two the position has entirely changed. Professing great umbrage at implicatious read into the representation aecorded to Haile Salassie at the Coronation celebrations, Signor Mussolini has revivedj or allowed to be revived, all the previous expressions of hostility towards Great Britain. Not only this, but he is making a great edemonstration of increasing armaments that oan have no other purpose than to secure domination over the waters of the Mediterranean, the Suez Ca»al and the Red Sea. Towards this his support of the Spanish insurgents is interpreted as being only anotber step, as leading eventually to his securing a base that will give him at least some measure of control also over the narrow Atlantic entrance to the Mediterranean. While this is the main immediate problem that confronts Great Britain in framing her foreign policy, there are many others which, with the longer future in view, must be taken into serious consideration and of which the delegates from the oversea dominions can have but a very superficial acquaintance. Yet, in the face of all this, we have "our own Prime Minister, perhaps the least well informed of any, reported as presumxng to "take up the strongest possible line concerning the Abyssinian question. Well may Mr. Eden cry aloud to Heaven to be saved from his friends.