LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 26

LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

AUSTRO-GERMAN CUSTOMS UNION. RUGBY, May 25. The session of the League Council is the. subject of comment in leading articles in several papers. The Times says: “The main problem before the 63rd council was the proposed AustroGerman economic union, which has been suspended rather than solved by its reference to The Hague, but European tranquillity is none the less secure, and an international dispute, which in the absence of such machinery might by now have led to one of violence, is safely transferred to legal settlement. When it is remembered how severe was the shock of the first announcement of the Austro-German Customs proposal, the ease with which it has been handled by the League of Nations Council is a notable fact. It is true that France has reserved the right to raise the political aspect of the matter later, but an interval of months has been won for cooler consideration.” The Telegraph pays a tribute to the success of the League of Nations machinery in dealing with what it describes as the first dispute between two great Powers, which has come before the council. FOREIGN SECRETARY’S HOPES. RUGBY, May 25. On his return from Geneva Mr Henderson (Foreign Secretary) said he hoped that in the years to come the 'work of the European Commission during the last week would be regarded as the first real collective step of the nations to end the world economic crisis. SUPPLY OF NARCOTICS. RUGBY, May 27. An international convention will be opened at Geneva to-day in connection with the efforts of the League of Nations to secure the strict limitation of the manufacture of narcotics to the world’s medical and scientific needs. The League spent many years in preliminary work and collecting information on the subject. By last year sufficient statistics had been collected to justify beginning an attempt to estimate the total amount of trade done in opium and its derivatives and in cocaine, to discriminate between legitimate and illicit, and to take practical steps towards controlling the world’s output. A preliminary conference was held in London in the autumn to determine the amount of cocaine and opium derivatives which each manufacturing country might legitimately produce. A provisional quota scheme was drawn up in the form of a draft convention, and this convention will now be considered by the Plenary Conference at Geneva.

COAL MINING INDUSTRY. GENEVA, May 30. In spite of protests by the representatives of Australian, South African, and Japanese employers, the International Labour Conference adopted the draft convention prepared by the Labour Office regarding hours of work in coal mines as a basis of discussion, and referred the draft to the Coal Committee, in the work of which overseas representatives refused to participate. Mr Gemmill (South Africa) explained that the draft had been prepared on a European basis, and did not take into account the conditions overseas. Mr Marshall Eady said that the opinion of Australian employers was similar to that of South Africa and other overseas producers. Mr Miya Jama (Japan) said he hoped that eventually the question would be examined from a universal standpoint. Mr Emanuel Shinwell (Britain) described the tactics of the employers as being intended to delay acceptance of the convention.