AIMS OF LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Southland Times, Issue 24241, 26 September 1940, Page 6

AIMS OF LEAGUE OF NATIONS

CHARGE OF PACIFISM DENIED

“The fact that Mr Winston Churchill recently agreed to become an honorary president of the English League of Nations Union ought to be an adequate answer to anyone who has misconceived ideas about the spirit of the union,” said the president (the Rev. C. J. Tocker) at the annual meeting of the Invercargill branch of the New Zealand League of Nations Union last night, after Mr J. L. .Cameron (vice-presi-dent) had mentioned that one of the gross misconceptions current about the union was that it was pacifist. Mr Cameron said he was fully aware that genuine pacifists belonged to the union, but pacifism was not part of the policy of the League of Nations. The league had advocated law and order in international affairs, but if law and order were to be established, there must be some instrument to enforce them. That being so, the league had stood for sanctions, backed by military force if necessary.

The league, Mr Cameron said, was also accused of having advocated total and unilateral disarmament. This, too, was a gross misconception of the policy of the league, which had advocated a reduction of armaments combined with collective security. The trouble had been that while the nations that had been the chief supporters of the League had reduced their armaments, they had not supported collective security.