NATIONAL ARBITRATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 263, 27 January 1928, Page 9

NATIONAL ARBITRATION

MEMORANDUM TO LEAGUE "DISAPPOINTING,” SAYS CECIL By Cable , —Press Association.—4U&j>yright. LONDON, Wednesday. In commenting on the memorandum on security, which was forwarded by the British Cabinet to the League of Nations, Viscount Cecil, in an article in the Times to-day, says the memorandum is most disappointing. He says the refusal to join in arbitration could not be due to the Government thinking that arbitration was advisable with good pe<|.le but wrong with bad ones. The only other possible conclusion was that the Government

preferred to arbitrate rather than quarrel with powerful countries, which was not a very high-minded attitude. "I do not know the ground on which the Government argues that people would not support general arbitration,” says Viscount Cecil. He asks if the Government would subject the question to a free vote of the House of Commons, or ask the League of Nations to remove such doubt. Great Britain’s signature was all-embracing. Arbitration would give the world a lead. Persistence in the present attitude was tantamount to guilt, and maintained that war was a legitimate method of settling disputes.—Times.