LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Hokitika Guardian, 23 March 1928, Page 2

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

(Australian cV: N.Z. Cable Association.) ABOLITION OF ARMS. GENEVA, March 22. At a meeting of the Preparatory Disarmament Commission, Air Gibson, the United States representative, said fie believed the idea behind the proposed Pact renouncing war can be made effective as an articulate expression of an almost universal will to peace. He believed such an expression would be more effective at present than any scheme of suppressing armaments. The United States believed that the most vital need of the moment was the creation of a universal desire for peace, confidence and the pacific settlement of disputes. If that could ho established, armaments would naturally decrease. Public opinion at present did not demand the complete abolition of armaments. The United States believed that the most vital need of the moment was the creation of a universal desire for peace, confidence and the pacific settlement of disputes. If that could be established, armaments would naturally decrease. Public: opinion at present did not demand the complete abolition of armaments. If it did so. no Government could resist it. Altogether ten nations, including Sweden, Poland and Belgium, supported the proposed Pact. Lord Cushendun and M. Sokol declared that the abolition of armaments would never give Mie degree of security attainable-by a system of pacific settlement of disputes. At. Henning pointed out that armaments were only one of the main causes of international insecurity.