CONCILIATION PACT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 243, 11 September 1940, Page 6

CONCILIATION PACT.

An extension of the Peace Commission Treaty of 1914, effected between the United Kingdom and the United States, is being made by the Dominions taking an active part in it. The treaty, as the Prime Minister states, provides for the establishment of a permanent commission of inquiry to investigate and report upon any disputes between the two countries which ordinary diplomatic means might fail to.solve amicably. New Zealand, of course, was bound by the original document, but a new international and constitutional status renders necessaiy an extension of the treaty to her as well as to other Dominions. The history of this treaty goes back to 1913 when Mr William Jennings Bryan, one of the foremost United States politicians, was Secretary of State in Mr Woodrow Wilson’s Cabinet. A most prominent student of international relations, he promoted the negotiation of 'separate peace treaties of this nature between the United States and 31 other countries. All these Powers bound themselves to submit disputes to an impartial inquiry, and to defer an appeal to arms for a year in order to give effect to the spirit of the treaty. Then came the World War, and later the League of Nations and the Pact of Paris outlawing war as an instrument of national policy.. The world has witnessed Powers violate their pledged word and elevate war above the dictates of humanity. Japan, Germany, and Italy left the League of Nations' rather than give full effect to its ideals, and each one deliberately violated the Pact of Paris. One can hardly imagine the British Empire and the United States engaged in a serious quarrel, one grave enough to provoke war, but nevertheless the spirit behind the treaty must make it acceptable -to all. It is a lead to nations to realise that differences should not cause war, and that conciliation and arbitration are the only real way to settle international disputes.