TREATY OBLIGATIONS

Hokitika Guardian, 16 February 1920, Page 1

TREATY OBLIGATIONS

DEBATE in the house of

COMMONS

(By Electric Telegraph—Copyright j

LONDON, February 13

In the House of Commons, Mr George R. ’ Thorne (Liberal) moved an amendment to the Address-iu-Reply, regretting that the Government had not recognised many impracticabilities in connexion with the Peace Treaty, and had not appreciated the grave dangers to the economic position at home and abroad by the delay in restoring settled conditions in Europe and the Near East.

Sir Donald Maclean (Liberal) quoted the message of General Smuts, in which he had said that the real work of making" peace would only begin after the Peace Treaty had been signed and expressed the opinion that the whole experience of tho last month had shown how substantially accurate was General Smuts’s estimate of the situation.

Sir Donald McLean appealed to the Government to take a long statesmanlike view of the situation, and further to fix the amount of the German indemnity. He deprecated the length of the Gorman “Black List.” He foreshadowed years of international litigation in this connexion. He urged that ther ewas no hope of a saund economic future for Europe without free trade all round. A start would be made with the new States in Central Europe.

SUBSTANTIAL GOVERNMENT WIN. (Received This Day at 8 a.m.) LONDON, Feb. 14.

In the Commons Mr Thorne’s amendment to the Addrcss-in-Ecply was rejected by 254 to (jO.