PUBLIC OPINION.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 April 1927, Page 4

PUBLIC OPINION.

11 CANNOT RENT THERE. “In some form or another this <1 ueslion of the organisation of migration is hound to come up again; if not at the Economic Conerence of the League, then in smite other way, lor il is too vital a question to be blanketed by the old formula of sovereignty. The matter cannot, and will not, be allowed to rest there. The plain needs of humanity suffering from the blastii.'rg effects of unemployment call for all. Ihe requirements of under-popu!laled countries, the strain on over-populated c mnlries, the demands of'industry and agriculture, all cry out for imp'.iitial, international, expert organisation. Alen and women cl good-will should use all the wisdom and knowledge they can acquire to reassure those who have honest fears, and to over-rule those who think to set an arbitrary limit to the march of world co-operation.’’—Airs jl. Al. S’.vanwick, in “Foreign Affairs.” TRANS-ATI,ANTIC CROSS-WORDS. “In spite of debts, there is more friendship towards America and Americans in the BrilisTi Isles than in all the countries not speaking the same mother-tongue,writes Air U.irviu. “On either side of the Atlantic that man is blind wiio does not see the Anglo-American understanding is the lightning londt.eu;.' i f arid-,'!)!.tics. What London and "Washington alike need is not to he afraid of friendship, lint trust it to the full. Those who think alike should work together. Spend,itioii.- upon this harmony between Aumrica and Britain encourage half the mischief of the world. The closer m-operation of the Englishspeaking Powers would ensure the peace of the world where it is most threatened, and where the League cpinnot reach.”—Afr .1. L. Garvin, in tie "'Observer.”

HAD A AfE l? 1C A STAVED IN EUROPE. “Had America stayed in Europe, the mess which followed the treaty might have been cleaned up. Every Englishman believes that. There would not have been the Anglo-French duel culminating in the Ruhr occupation. There would not have been the seven years of anarchy between the signing of the Treaty and rlie validation ol the Locarno Pact, at Geneva last autumn. Europe thinks we should have stayed, because no other course was in tie least consonant will) our professions of disinterested idealism and unselfish desire to serve. All President Wilson’s war and post-war speeches are remembered in Lurope, by them American action is weighed. Moreover, at JViris, during the peacemaking the President and all his followers steadily proclaimed American purpose to he to stay in Europe and associate itself with European recovery.—Air F. H, tSimonds, the wellknown AmeriiLu journalist.

THE PUBLIC AND THE LEAGUE. little interest is generally taken in foreign polities unless there is a 'row’ of some sort, and how extremely little knowledge there is in the pubic even then, I think that this country is surprisingly well informed about- the League cf Nations. There is scarcely a constituency in England or V» ales where there is not -a group of, say. half-a-dozen people who luieo more or less expert knowledge of the l.eagne. In mostconstituencies, of course, there are many more There are over twe* thousand branches of the League of Nations Union. Lessons on the League are given by the wish of the local

educrtinn authority in tin- schools in most areas. I in l l mot) holds, on an average, between ten and twelve odueational meetings concerned with the League e\ cry night. Members ol' Parliament by m>w almost Always know something about the longue, and most ol them have read the t ivenant. Further, any candidate who goes openly .'against the League gets instantly into trouble; not through the inai binalions ol the Lnio". but ip-;;,a G.c spontaneous reaction ol public opinion.”—Sir Gilbert Minnas , chairman or the League ol Nations I’nioii. THK GENERAL Si’ll IK F. ■ | am not in favour ol hi general strike in trade union matters. 1 recognised that a general strike on liehall ol the minors, or anyone else, was doomed to tail Irorn the very beginning. Wo who have been in the trade union movement lor thirty ol fortv veals know tiiat the question ol a general strik: has been proclaimed, argued, debated, not only in this country, but throughout the Continent ol Europe, and the considered opinion of trade union leaders on the Continent, as proclaimed lor over a score ol veal's, is that a general strike is general nonsense. 1 here is another method whereby wo can redress our grievances. If there were no other method, then it is conceivable that a set ol circumstances might arise when a general strike must take place, but those circumstances did not arise during the recent period, and cannot la rise again, :.nd I hope, never will. We have to build up a strong, powerful political Labour party on the recognition of the inefficiency ol strikes, believing that by capturing the political machine we till) redress all cur grievances.—Air Mr..wnlie. at the British Trade I'nion Congress. mnagaiia