THE PEACE CONGRESS

Taihape Daily Times, 31 March 1919, Page 6

THE PEACE CONGRESS

JDftDELEGATIOBJ

ALLOTMENT OF REPRESENTATION.

'%£!—.

i '■"' § ' (From R. Riley}* Official Journalist.)

PARIS, January 30. ■ * i * sr* i /f 4 J? I '■&, E dflteecV representation- at the ••'Peace Conference by one delegate only hac been decided closed and sealed, a week before Mr. 'Prime Minister, and iSr Jos||h ~VOLt$l., Minister of Finance, arrived in Paris on January 22nd. They were thus deprived of the opoprtiyjiry given to, arfd*«iully £ll th||pt|er> "make'and suppbfV'eraiiris. for the fullest direct repersentation possible at the Conference table. It has | Seen contended, of courses thai fthe of '.thej' New &ealand froni the imr>nrt;;. j preliminary Inter-Allied conferences, or conversations (to use the official terjnX-did not really affect thcjtlecis-ion of |b! jOoimcil of the great Allied and Associated Powers. It is impossible in the circumstances to challenge that, contention,Sbut it is at least rigrlf and '|pieffer to,place on record the,tfae|< that Jh%»iSTew Zealand representativeV^were

not consulted on the question of allot-,

. ment ,of representation at the. Peace, Conference and had not ppporfumty 'before 7 ""' the ' ? Ctiuncfi tne Dominions claims and reasons tot their claims, for the same measure of ; representation as -was allotted to States whose war service on behalf of the Allies is not equal to that of Nesr

Zealand. It may be stated that the question of representation generally was discussed thoroughly at several sessions of the preliminary Inter-Allied Con-

ference.' Many protests were submit-

ted and numerous amendments mafle iU before the Council, consisting of the :u President of the United States of America, and the Prime and Foreign Ministers of the great Allied, and ° Associated Powers, reached' their finar At one stage it

seemed as though the representation would never be closed. Need it be ( said that even after it was closed the Council's decision had failed... to, give

anything like general satisfaction. . The allotment of international representation at the Peaec Conference? as follows: —British Empire. United . Spates of America. France. Italy and .Japan, five .delegates each; .Brazil.

, three delegates: British ~.,,((except New Zealand) and India (in- '. eluding the Native States) two. ;deie- ( .jgates; .Belgium,..Chjna. Greece. Rot> mania,. Serbia, Poland and the Czechoslovak Republic, two delegates each; "' New Zealand, Portugal. Slam. CuUr, *' l Guatemala, Hayti. Honduras, Liberia, 'Nicaragua, and Panama one delegate '"' each'; ; *\ MS ?• Montenegro was, also allotted one

delegate, but the rules concerning tnc

designation were deferred until the •''< -political sttuation of this country shall :| > fi 'have "been cleared up. •if * ■'* r't i•• >; ■ ■ ' . . • . ■ r- The . representation of Russia was 'also necessarily deferred. As a result , of further consideration Belgium aner Serbia were allotted three reprcsen-, tatives apiece, ; ":. It is understood, rather than resolved ... at the preliminary sessions of ( the In :! '".ter-Allied Conferensce that the panel ~_ ■system should apply to all the, great r Powers', and also that any Power could change its representatives from time to time. As far as one could learn from the free talk at the headquarters of the British delegation about the allotment of representation the aim of the Allied Council had been a honest and a very patient attempt to exercise justice .to all States. There appeared, however, to be a strong feeling among mandelegates that the allocation of three. representatives to Brazil was at,. Icalit preposterous, if not outrageous,•' while 11 which 'had il r/enderoa " Substantial service and made great, sacrifices on behalf of the emaniclpa-. tion of the world from Prussian militarisJjL £%d\beeiL as regards, wiiS'feilrfi, L'iberfa, and Panama. . , : r -. The exceptional position to Brazil was apparently justified by diplomatic the main reason aim at convincing people that .the Interests of the free nations are rnpre acceptable than those of the defeated Central Powers. But it is for [ .tnc : Supreme Council of the Allied and-A;-;. ; scciated Powers to justify their! dip 0 lomatic generosity to Brazil. | .(,;,. Such was the comments i§ frpspeet of TtfpresjSntation at the Pea'cV'Conference when;.the, New Zealand delegation arrived' .: in

this great rendezvous of the world's

peacemakers, :>And it wamat once obr iilv^nV■ Ncw-'-'Zealkfi'd's' claims wto considered by the Council of; ihy Powers. No attenrrt was Wsc to . appaal jp , "the Coh:;ai,>.

Bui it Mas deemed reasonable and

'proper, having regard to all the circumstances, to place the question of New Zealand's representation before t-hpißritish delegation. To begin with,

u.tii Africa had, for the first time,

„ecn given (precedence, over ,?S T cw s .Zqaland in the order of what may bo •.termed the relative importance of the 'British dominions, as determined, ap- • ■■,-patently on the basis of white population, i Then it was admitted that .. .due,; consideration had been given to .-.the war, service of each Dominion and ■ State,- excepting, of course. B'razil, end also to the necessity of recognising; the -right -of nationhood as now claimed .by. all the Dominions; furthef, there, was the natural desire to secure that the case of each Dominion should be presented with the best possible

effect, i After careful consideration of all these points and phases of rcpreprcsentati.cn. of the Dominions and other .small .States the New Zealand delegation decided to bring the matter ,uv> at the earliest opportunity. Mr Massey-called, on Mr Lloyd George the morning after.the New Zealand delegation's arrival-in Paris, and the British. Prime Minister immediately an# iwithout any-hesitation or reservation agreed to have the question of New Zealand's representation considered at .a.-meeting of the British Delegation—.practically, the British Imperial War Cabinet—-that day. B'oth of our - Ministers attended the session of the .British Delegation and received a , hearty welcome. . The conference was private, so it is not permissible to report the discussion; but it can at .least bo : said that there was no attempt, on the part of the New Zealand .Ministers to.; lecture the British Goypimment or to gain political publicity on the strength of New Zealand's war service, as has apparently been inferred erroneously in New Zealand. The Ministers were in vited to -.recount the Dominion's service in the war, and their simple recital of the facts, which

require no declamatory embellishment, or "political emphasis," was certainly appreciated by all the British- and other Dominions' delegates. The result was an immediate agreement to include Sir Joseph Ward as" a member 6f'Britain's delegation, and the Minister of Finance, attended as a British 'delegate, the second plenary session of the Peace Conference at which the idealistic League of Nations was 'born' to wonderful parents..