The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1929 THE RISKS OF PEACE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 776, 24 September 1929, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET, AUCKLAND TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1929 THE RISKS OF PEACE

“AXE of the worst drawbacks of international life is that it V cannot be carried on without foreigners.” This epigrammatic wisdom of Professor Madariaga, one of the ablest authorities on disarmament and kindred subjects, is applicable to the latest achievement at Geneva, where the Tenth Assembly of the League of Nations lias raised (to quote Mr. Arthur Henderson, the British Labour Government’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) “a conspicuous milestone on tlie road toward the brotherhood of mankind.”

The road is long, and by the time its end has been reached the milestones along the way will be many, with some of them almost hidden by the moss that does not cling to a rolling stone. It can be said frankly tliat’Hhe latest milestone—the general acceptance of the Optional Clause in the Statutes of the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague—is conspicuous enough and represents in principle the forward march of events toward universal peace. For most people the phrase “optional clause” means very little more than a misty problem which is not nearly so interesting for the public as a reasonably good “tip” about the prospective winner of a racecourse gallop. In reality the Optional Clause represents the best attempt made during the past ten years to bring about the reign of international law among nations, and to make such law prevail over war. Among our own politicians the subject was treated as an inviolable secret —one of the silliest contentions ever put forward in Parliament. There lias been no secrecy about it in the Old World. On tlie contrary, the question has been discussed with that candour which the late Woodrow Wilson described as “open covenants openly arrived at.” And the Labour Government in Great Britain unhesitatingly declared at tlie outset of its second administrative career that it would sign the clause without delay and thus agree to submit to judicial settlement international disputes in which parties were in conflict as to their respective rights. Of course, the Dominions had to be consulted, for tlie simple reason that, without their signatures, the signature of the British Government would be meaningless. It is difficult to understand, however, why there should have been any profound or even pretentious secrecy about these consultations.

Only one question had to be considered, both at Geneva and in all of the British Empire Parliaments, and this question was simple enough for any politician: Should the Permanent Court of International Justice be given full powers to arbitrate upon disputes between nations? Hitherto, since its inception nine years ago, it has been (as noted time and again) like what an ordinary Court of Law would be if litigants made use of it only when they agreed between themselves to do so. The Optional Clause provides for compulsory settlement of international disputes by the Permanent Court of International Justice. In the plainest terms signatories to the clause must accept as compulsory, ipso facto, and without special convention, the jurisdiction of the Court in conformity with its Statutes. There are, however, certain conditions provided, of which several already have been interpreted as reservations. For example, every nation has its own special constitutional rights which it must protect. To bring this question into the realm of New Zealand politics, one might ask if any dispute between this Dominion and Great Britain, or with sister Dominions, should be submitted to an international eourt for settlement? Everybody knows that tlie answer would be an emphatic “No!” Unfortunately, there is room for doubt as to the limitation of British Imperial disputes to the simple character of domestic disputes, probably easily settled by a round-table conference of the disputants.* Professor J. H. Morgan, a London professorial authority on constitutional law, interprets the signing of the'Optional Clause as “a leap in the dark which may have most disintegrating effects on the British Empire.” His pessimistic interpretation is supported by shrewd argument. Professor Morgan notes with apprehension that The Hague Court itself will be the sole judge as to whether a dispute is an inter-imperial dispute. If this he an accurate interpretation the scope for complications and grave difficulties within the British Empire is obvious. It is a pity that responsible Parliaments have been kept in ignorance about the risks involved in world peace.

MODERN TRAFFIC CONTROL

IN traffic control, as in other things, the human liability to error is a factor. Even in the operations of the admirably organised. Auckland traffic corps, instances of this are seen. Nearly every motorist who has driven a car for long in Auckland has at one time or another been misled by a deceptive signal, and has suffered the humiliation of being “bawled out” in front of an interested audience. The man at the crossing may err, hut the system under which he works makes the jnotorist, and not himself, the sufferer through his abstraction. The welfare of pedestrians is another factor that, in any scheme of traffic control, has to be considered. If the local traffic corps has any instructions to consider pedestrians the effect of such instruction is rarely apparent. This, again, is the fault of the system rather than of the men. With the system advocated by Mr. G. Ashley, chairman of the City Council Traffic Committee, pedestrians at a junction like the Customs Street-Queen Street intersection would know very well that the signals were mechanically operated, and that they would have to wait only a set time before the warning light gave them intimation that in a moment they might have the right of way. The most valuable feature of the 'coloured-light system investigated and approved by Mr. Ashley is undoubtedly the yellow “warning light” which intervenes between the red and the green. The warning light is a form of signal which is not within the range of the flesh-and-blood pointsman. Neither motorists nor pedestrians, waiting for his signal, can have any intimation when he is about to give it. Perhaps they may sometimes be forgiven for suspecting that he does not know himself. But with the red, yellow and green lights there can be no room for doubt.

The proposed system has this additional advantage, that it relieves the traffic officers of tlie irksome point duty work, and gives them fuller opportunity to regulate parking, turning and traffic observances generally, away from the intersections. The need for a larger staff to give more rigid supervision in Queen Street alone is now apparent on any busy afternoon. On the other hand, there is the disability that when—as after a football match at Eden Park—the stream of traffic is flowing all one way, Lie automatic system unnecessarily slows up its movement Providing that the flashes can be regulated, or pointsmen pressed into service for such occasions, there are at least four intersections in Auckland where the innovation should be a success.