CURRENT TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3641, 30 November 1920, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

- , '• (By Argus.)' Geneva, the Swiss city which was chosen by the league of. Nations as the first meeting place of the League., was appropriately chosen. It was the birthplace of Jean Jacques Rousseau, the French philosopher, who had in his day been looked upon as the champion of popular rights. It was also the birthplace of many other philosophic writers, and for many years was renowned as the centre of learning in. Europe. In 18(34 the Geneva Convention, which. gave expression to the desire of the European "nations for the establishment of humanitarian rules of warfare, was signed. Twelve European States and Persia were represented at fhis first convention of humanitarianism, and it was then that the neutrality of ambulances and military hospitals was decided upon, and the famous Red Cross —the Geneva Cross—first became known as the symbol of mercy. It may be tnat the general public during the recent war lost faith in treaties and in rales and regulations as applied to the brutality of war; but. in a broad sense, it may be said that the nations generally respected the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, the latter being the Turkish equivalent of the Cross. If the nations, individually and collectively, will respect the decisions arrived at by this first great Assembly of the League of Nation? as religiously as they have observed the rules laid down by the first Convention at Geneva, and which were .signed in 1864, the League of Nations will have accomplished someth"■>«>; likely to confer an everlasting h""i>i:t on humanity. ,

The League of Nations' one great difficulty is the mandate for Armenia. It was generally believed that out of the Great War would have arisen a humanitarianism and a desire for naj tional equity, justice and peace which would have been universal. The most downtrodden people of the modern world have for years been the Armenians, who "have known no measure of independence since the days of Ti- ) granes 11, nearly 100 years before the Christian era. For centuries Armenia has been upset by internal anarchy and | continuous persecution of Christians, ' and for centuries its people were held in bondage by Mohammedan hordes. ; Until the present day. the Armenian j people have been compelled to resist persecution, chiefly of a religious na- > ture, and the country to-day is the one i in all the World, where Christianity is a ; reason in itself for persecution. It

is doubtful if history has a' parallel for the -atrocities which have occurred in Armenia in comparatively recent years, but out of the turmoil of a great European war has come so far no nation which is willing to accept a mandate for Armenia. The League of Nations is making an effort to find a power of control which will prevent Turkish aggression, and Help the Armenians to establish themselves as an independent nation —that is, so far as a nation which" has known little -but oppression for centuries can be. independent —, and until such a has been accepted and given full effect to, it will be hard to persuade anybody that the downfall of Prussianism hns been as beneficial as it should have been.

Admiral Percy Scott, the one-time idol of the British Navy, has apparently been feasting too well, if, his remarks relating to the effect of submarines

during the war were exactly as reported. He mentioned that when submarines made their appearance in the Mediterranean during the war, the warships sought the proteciton of the harbours and gathered the merchant vessels to their sides as a protectionagainst torpedoes. It may be that for a few weeks the Admiralty was at a loss .as to how the new menace should be met, but we all know that it was met. eventually, and that the existence j of r-rmy submarines in the. Mediterranean did not have much effect in the way of benefiting the enemy. When ocean giants such as the Aquitania, Mauretania and Olympic could be safely used as troop transports in the Mediterranean, Sir Percy Scott's slur on the Navy is proved to be unwarranted. The truth of the matter is that the submarines were more afraid of armed j vessels than the vessels were of sub- I marines, and when the total losses in j the Mediterranean are considered in ' proportion to the tonnage of the ship- | ping engaged, the submarine as a po- j tent war factor did not come up to ex-'J peetations. For long periods .during ! the Gallipoli campaign, more than half 1 of the total British merchant tonnage j was in the Mediterranean, and the first ] serious loss to an enemy submarine was the Boyal Edward in August, 1915. The Marquette was a victim, as also was the Southland and a few more merchant ships, but the submarines fought shy of armed vessels as a rule, though one managed to get the Triumph. Apart from the Koynl Edward the only sinking of note was that of j the Britannic, which was an unprotected hospital ship. We all remember Sir Percy Scott's predilection for the submarine in pre-war days, but no one

\ can justly contend that his recent slui • on the war work of the British Navy j is justified in anj degree whatever. j It may be that if submarines were i plentiful enough, all other eraft would |be practically useless; but the fact j remains that Britain was fed anjfe>r ; troops were transported to distanfflre- ! at res of Avar with only a very small percentage of losses from the attacks of submarines. 1 ' ••