DOMINION AND THE LEAGUE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 21, 18 October 1937, Page 9

DOMINION AND THE LEAGUE

Mr. Savage's Assurance to Deputation

FAULTS AT GENEVA

"I want to assure you that there is nothing we can do that we will not do along the lines that the League of Nations Union has heen working for years. I am bound to say that what- • ever failure can be attributeO. to the League it is due to the personnel of the League itself rather than to the principles of the covenant," said the Prime Minister) Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, in reply to a deputation from the Dominion Council of the League of Nations Union of New Zealand, which waited on him last week to place beforo him certain remits asking for .Government action carried at the annual conference. The deputation, which was introduced hy Mr K. A. Wright, M.P., comprised: Mr W. B. Matheson, acting for the Dominion president, Professor F. L, W, Wood, who is absent at Geneva, ^ Mr H. McCormick, who presided at the annual conferencej Dr. A, G. Butchers, Mrs J. Henderson and Miss M. E. P. Ahern, members of the Dominion council. "Our conference this year put on'record its appreciation of the good work that you and your Minister and the Higli Commissioner did at the Imperial Conference and the League Assembly, commending specially your action in opposing recognition of Italian sovereignty over Abyssinia," Mr Matheson said. The union nnderstood that the Government was prepared to ratify all League conventions in New Zealand. Although that involved very weighty matters and was perhaps a dangerous adventure, the conference asked for that. "We recognise that perhaps the greatest danger involved is that New Zealand may think she is doing all she ought and so lose sight of the great and imperative need for reformatHon of the League itself into a body acceptable to all nations as an instrument for the settlement of interna tional disputes," Mr Matheson added. -They were anxious that the rising generation should be helped to greater wisdom, and wanted to see in the hands of all senior school children a small hook giving a history of the League, it9 ambitions, its needs, its possibilities and the terrible alternative. Right Behind the League. ! Mr McCormick said the deputation knew it had come along to a Government that was right behind the League. It was very anxious to get a hook about the League produced at the earliest possible moment. The union undertook to produce a hook, to be submitted to the Minister of Education for approval. Dr. Butchers said the council appreciated very highly indeed the stand that had heen taken by the Government in support of the principles of the League. "What you are saying is correct. Wa do not need any driving in this," Mr Savage said in his reply. ' 'The League is depressing not because of any fault in its constitution, but because of the political opinions of those who go to make up the League. They all give lip services to the principles of peaee, but when it comes to a show-down they do not seem to he able to face up to tho realities of the situation. People go there without the slightest intention of giving effect to the principles underlying the covenant." Mr Savage said reform of the League was discussed at the Imperial Conference. They could have gone enthusiastically into the reform oi the League and made it something no one would | have had any admiration for, if they j had no one trying to give effect to the fandamentals of it. He was one of I those who thought they ought to get the nations together to discuss the cauaes of war. But there again there was great difficulty in even getting them to talk about that. What New Zealand had to say was noticed because it was along defined lines. That came from Geneva itself. They had put in front of the League definite principles, and no one had made jany attempt to knock them down so far. ; Referring to the suggested hook, the. j Prime Minister said it was very desir- ■ able that everyone should know what; they were trying to do, and it was desir-; able that they should have these things ! in the schools. But it was a pity they could not extend their educational activities beyond New Zealand altogether. It was a pity they could not have a greater amount of money spent in getting the principles of peace in front of the peoples 'of the world. If the nations spent in propaganda for peace ! one-tenth of what they were spending in projtarauon for war tlic world woinu be a happier place. The Minister of Education, Hon. P. Fraser, referring to the deputation 's text-book suggestion, said that at the ! present time the Government had ^ a text-book committee sitting considering . tcxt-books for the sehools. Any pro- , posals by the union he would be pleased to place before that committee. _ The followiug remits were submitted . ;to Mr Savage: — That this conference is of the opm- | lon that where the New Zealand Gorvernment is faced by a cleavage of inr terests between its obligations undei • the League Covenant and its obliga- ? tions to the British Government, it should choose the former. That this conference expresses its •^preeiation of the notablo contributions made in support of the ideals oi the League by the Prime Minister, tli« f Hgh Commissioner and Ministers oi ? the Crown who, during the year, liavs ' rcpresented New Zealand at the meet' 1 ings of the Assemby, at the I.L.O. anc at the Imperial Conference. p That the Government be asked ti UTgo at Geneva as a normal principli Qi mandate government. that tho civi

' service of sucn territories should not he confined as now to citizens of niandatory Powers, but should bo staffed in part by citizens of other League States, and that the Government ba asked to give effect to this principle in mandated Samoa as far as is practicable. That the Government be asked to communicate to the League its willingaess t0 increase its monetary contribufcion. That the Government he asked to seek mandatory status over the Ross Sea dependency in place of its present aovereign rights. Whereas Articles 1 and 8 of the Covenant require the collective Tegula--tion of armaments and whereas Article 9 provides for a permanent commission to advise the council on military, naval and air questions, the New Zealand League of Nations Union urges the New Zealand Government to take the lead towaids fulfilling the never-yet-fulfilled pledges of these articles by asking the Council of the League to advise and direct it in regard to the scale, tvpe and use of armaments necessary to fulfil its international obligations. International Labour Offi.ce. That this conference commends the action of the Government in sending representatives "to the International Labour Organisation and the increased sympathy it has shown in the work of this organisation, and hopcs there will be no further delay in ratifying as many conventions as possible. That this conference commends the action of New Zealand at the League of Nations Assembly in opposing recognition of Italian sovereignty over Abyssinia, in view of the fact that such sovereignty was established in absolute defiance of the Covenant. That, this conference in agreement with the conclusions of the Interleetual Co-operation Organisation of the League, records its belief that international travel by young people, and the meeting together of the youth of all nations, is the most effective way of educating nations for peace and friendship and requests the New Zealand Government to assist whenever possible the international travel of representatives of youth organisations. "