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Hokitika Guardian, 1 December 1928, Page 4

Mu BAt.mviN’ Inis the statesmanlike quality of being'able to assess <li.spa.sionately tlie international tendencies of the age in which wo live. Not easily moved by sporadic manifestations, eonfiiins a contemporary, he considers events in broad perspective, and roaches eonelrsions which relegate pass1 1l ur events of ephemeral significance to (heir proper category. Tn an address at Glasgow last week he summed up encouraging l !’ tin.* trend <>i intornation,il relationships within the lasi few v<>ar~, and shower! the respect in which it marks a real advance from the old order There is no extravagance in his suggestion that Europe is animated by a spirit of give-and-take which was'absent before the war, nor is there any reason to regard Mr Baldwin as unduly optimistic in holding the view that the attainment of such a state of things within ten years of the termination of the great European struggle represents an achievement that holds out a. hope of future hot torment, amelioration, and happiness for the people of Europe. We are being continually reminded of the danger to peace resident in the existence of armaments. A great deal of progress along the road that leads away from war seems, however, undoubtedly to have been made. One manifestation of this, as Mr Baldwin has pointed out. consists in the fact that the statesmen of Europe have now become accustomed, in place of hurling despatches at one another across the frontier, to meet for the personal and friendly discussion of the issues between them. It is not yet ten years since the League of Nations came into being, and it is largely due to it that this new spirit of tolerance arid discussion has come to ho accredited as advantageous and becoming. Within a few days will lie readied the third anniversary of the signing of the Locarno treaties, which, paving the way for the entry of Germany into the League of Nations, furnished concrete evidence of the desire of the nations concerned to live in harmony. Alarms may he raised, with or without reason. from time to time, and the horizon may appear overcast, hut the international spirit that has been manifested during the past decade, can with justification lie regarded a.s bound to operate boneliciallv on occasions iliat seem to lie fraught with the threat of serious trouble among the Bowers.