ANTI-WAR PACT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 431, 13 August 1928, Page 14

ANTI-WAR PACT

LEAGUE OF NATIONS’ WORK ADDRESS AT DEVONPORT “It would appear that mankind has at last come to the decision that war is not only too expensive, but also a thoroughly unsatisfactory way of achieving national ambitions,” said the Rev. W. Lawson Marsh, speaking on the anti-war pact, in the Devonport Presbyterian Church last evening. “Just as the individual in a civilised state surrenders his sovereign individual rights for the protection of law,” continued Mr. Marsh, “and so denies himself the right to use violence, so it is proposed that the Governments of the world should extend the idea of civil jurisdiction into the realm of international affairs.”

The fact that world peace was at last assuming a place in practical politics was a subject for thanksgiving, continued the speaker, but this thanksgiving must not be premature. For some time it had been realised that though the League of Nations provided machinery for settling disputes it lacked the force to carry out its decisions. Therefore, a necessary condition of the peace pact must be that countries should be allowed to retain their armies and navies in order to defend themselves from sudden attack. It was perfectly clear, however, that as the object of the pact aroused the interest and enthusiasm of the world, mutual trust would develop and result in the abolition of national armaments.