The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1928.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 December 1928, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1928.

the fate ok tiik keuuoo pact. Jt would ho highly amusing wore it no! so internationally import;« l1 L, to have tin* v:ifairies of tlm United States in re liiiion to tile peace ot the world. There is the .A I on mo Doctrine which involves hands oil’ the two America’s touch them who dare. It is finite a declaration ot “ what jve have, we hold.” Then there was the late President "Wilson's excursion at the end of the war to Europe to impose a peace which was to end war! Hut the legislature of the United States declined to conJirm all that Air Wilson imposed, and to-day the States is outside the League of .Nations, the material instrument intended to impose peace upon the world. .Next there was all the taik about disarmament, hut again America stood out with a will and a wish of her own to impose on the Croat Powers not only her own desires, hut to limit the requirements others. There have been other efforts in a similar direction, and the Powers have even tried to get together themselves and work out a basis for mutual consideration. Even after this preliminary work. America has shown annoyance, and gone the length of misinterpreting the situation, at the same time quite unfairly inflaming the minds of her own people as to the bona titles of even Britain and France' in these matters. Then, once again, as in the effort, of Air Woodrow Wilson, we now have the Kellogg Pact, prepared in America, imposed on the Powers. And yet while the Powers concerned subscribe to the tenets which are destined to act as an antidote to war, when the Pact is ro-

turned to America for confirmation, liiorc is a hostile reception awaiting it, and its ultimate fate is still in the balance. The United States has not cut a very clear figure in these negotiations since the world cataclysm ol .15)11-191S as regards a genuine effort to establish peace, propped up as if was proposed by a degree of naval disarmament. There is a very generai idea that if navies were reduced to a minimum there would be a prospect I'm a world peace. This, however, do* s not appear to be the whole cure whercountries are not affected by navies. .There are many land-locked countries where naval forces are of little account. Hut among' the World Powers, since the German Navy was extinguished there does not appear anv Great I'oWci seriously bent on world ■ eoiif|iiering. The German lesson will always be niistnnding as to the fallacy ol at tempting world-conquest by such a

means. It is being made manifest by I In' Powers that their navies are foe defence, and not for conquest. An at tempt has been made to limit tic number and size of the capital ships but so far without success. Still, it is plain that if there is to he regulation there must in fairness be taken into account some measure of the sea mileage they have to roam, or the mercantile tonnage they have to protect on the high seas. The Ifrifish Navy is used to police the Seven Seas, and if must be a navy of outstanding strength to cover the sea miles over which British shipping moves, just as it must be realised there is an enormous mercantile tonnage 'to safeguard. New /calami depends for its national existence on the safety of the seas. ithout. a clear sea way, not only would our trading be imperilled, but the safety o 1 the nation would be in danger if the shores were open to raiders. There was some taste of this during the war when enemy ships found their way ini ' New Zealand waters bent on mischief. 'Traders freighted with New Zealand goods also were sunk eii route to then destination. These conditions call lor uavai protection, and it is manifest the disarmament craze must be kept within limits of national security. Complete disarmament is impossible miU 1 human nature is changed, and that is not possible in our time. Yet we have it on official record that no Power has moved nearly so far as. Great Britain, in a resonable reduction of naval strength. The United States must be prepared to do likewise, and there will be a different feeling abroad if the national attitude is made perfectly plain by an honest adoption of the principles of the Kellogg Pact.