LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 216, 12 August 1937, Page 13

LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

ADDRESS BY MRS H. PATERSON. PEOPLE’S RESPONSIBILITY. Enthusiasm was inspired by Mrs H. Paterson, of Paliiatua, when she addressed a gathering of women on Ihe League of Nations,” at Messrs Colhnson and Cunninghame’s yesterday afternoon, the meeting being arranged by the Women’s Auxiliary of the Manawntu branch of the League of Nations Union. In the absence of the president (Mrs G. G. Hancox), Mrs J. Murray presided. Prior to the address, elocutionary items, “The Queen” and “The fantasy,” contributed by Miss F. V hittaker, and vocal solos, “Love the Jester and “Nursery Rhymes,” by Mrs K. V . Eglinton (accompaniste, Miss E. Eyre) delighted the audience. Speaking of the need for the League ( of Nations, Mrs Paterson said that i t i had been stated that a .great movement had its birth in great ideas, these might be long in fructifying but they I came into being eventually. After the Great War the League bad been formed with the object of securing understand- j ing and co-operation and harmonious working between nations, to educate public opinion into the idea of the possibility of all working together tor the happiness and well-being of the whole, and to remind us individually that these of our loved ones who made, the supreme sacrifice in the war gave then lives-—their all—for the cause ot peace and goodwill. A solemn responsibility rested on people to-day. _ We were living in a world that required a mode of government that would uplift the backward nations and check the aggression of the unscrupulous and greedy. What was the League of Nations. Too often it was spoken of as though it. were a super State with dictatorial powers, whereas it was an association or independent. States and tlierelore could not become a truly vital force m international affairs until all the nations of the world, members and non-members I alike, washed it to fill that roll. Much of the criticism of the League revealed an inadequate understanding. PRESERVING PEACE. The League was not only the machinery for preserving peace, but it was also the instrument for getting all the

nations of the world to work together to enter into a co-operative unity on all matters that their health, social evils, trade, and commerce. The preservation of peace was the negative aspect; the positue aspect was a definite endeavour to link the nations in all matters that concerned them. An interesting point was that the League provided a neutral meeting ground for Foreign Secretaries. Geneva was the headquarters of the League, and whereas it was once saiu that all roads led to Rome, it now might be said that all roads led to Geneva. Mrs Paterson explained the League machinery, commenting that at the Assemblv the best brains from all countries met together. The League was an age-long dream come true —an inteinational law court. Dealing with armaments, the speaker said that armament makers continued to do flourishing business. She thought it was generally agreed that this was one industry which should definitely be under the control of the various governments. Both sets of protagonists on the question of armaments, however stated their case convincingly, and strange to say neither side wanted war. The menace of the air was also rclerrcu to The first need for a successful League of Nations, pointed out the speaker, was a conversion of the people of the world to a League of Nations frame ot mind —the desire to promote international co-operation and to achieve international peace and security. The use ot the combined force of the nations to resist disorder and aggression was the negative process; for pence a positive contribution was also required. There must be a readiness to visualise the world as a unity, and there must be international self-control and goodwill.

WOMEN’S PART. Women could play a great part, the speaker concluded. They could think peace, and women’s organisations could establish contact with others in different countries. She believed that it was through the women that peace would eventually come to pass. They had not got to the root of the matter when they thought only of the machinery of the League; the crux of the matter was the spirit. The meeting would fail if they did not. go away from it with the sure knowledge that they all had a definite part in this movement, and a positive belief in the possibility of peace. Mrs E. T. McKain thanked Mrs Paterson, who was presented with a basket of flowers by Phyllis Petersen.