PEACE CONGRESS.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 April 1919, Page 7

PEACE CONGRESS.

NEW ZEALAND DELEGATION. ALLIED RED CROSS PEACE PLAN. (From K. Riley, Official Journalist) Paris, February 26. One of the most interesting functions that Mr Massey has attended in Paris in his official capacity as Prime Minister of New Zealand was the dinner given recently to the international press representatives (who, as they themselves say, are attempting to report the Peace Conference which is an absolute negation of Mr Wilson's doctrine of "open treaties openly arrived at") by Mr Henry P. Davison, a representative of the American Red Cross, and chairman of the Allied Committee of the Red Cross Societies. The dinner was merely a social opportunity for the discussion by representative men of an important movement for the preparation of an extended programme of Red Cross activities following the declaration of peace.

The aim of the Allied Red Cross Committee is to establish a permanent working organisation through which the peoples of the world may co-operate in studying disease and combatting it everywhere and in every form. In other words the great development of the Red Cross organisation for alleviating the havoc of war among the armies of the Allies, is to be made a vital factor in promoting the interests of humanity in peace. The principal speaker was Mr Davison, who outlined the Committee's plan of campaign. He first of all submitted a memorandum from the Joint Committee of Red Cross Societies, at whose request the International Red Cross Committee had cabled a convention of the International Red Cross organisa-1 tions of the world at Geneva thirty days after the declaration of peace. The object of the projected convention is to formulate an extended programme of Red Cross activities in the interests of humanity. It is hoped to establish an organisation for the fostering of the study of disease, for the promotion of sound measures for publfc health and sanitation, the welfare of children and mothers, the education and training of nurses, the care and prevention of tuberculosis, venereal disease, malaria, and other chronic and infectious diseases, and providing measures for handling problems of world relief in emergencies such as fire, famine, and pestilence, The plan, briefly, is to inaugurate an international life-saving campaign to help overcome quickly and humanely tb« destruction of energetic life by "the war. Those New Zealanders who have labored hard without a full measure of sympathy and practical support to improve the health and social status of the population—uphill work that surely has obtained great success already—should find compensation and inspiration in the plan of the Allied Red Cross' Societies, whose scheme includes activities which have been practised widely, if somewhat experimentally, for many years in the Dominion. These comments, which are justified by facts, are especially true as regards • New Zealand's earnest efforts in the direction of promoting public health, the welfare of mothers and children, sanitation, training of nurses, and prevention of disease.

The Committee of the Allied Red Cross Societies intends to establish forthwith working headquarters at Cannes, and to invite there the world's leading experts in public health, tuberculosis, hygiene and sanitation, and child welfare, with a view to formulating programmes for presentation to the Convention at Geneva. It is intended to stimulate in each country the development of Red Cross activities in keeping with the aims and lines of the Allied Red Cross Societies.

It was mentioned by Mr Davison that more than forty million American people had contributed to the American Red Cross Society for war work, and that when the armistice was signed their organisation was four times the size of the American expeditionary force*. It had had eight million people working for it. Ho emphasised the need for further organisation against infectious diseases by mentioning that the deaths in India from influenza alone were estimated to be about two and a half millions.

Sir Arthur Lawley. representing the British Red Cross Society, modestly, but quite effectively, recounted the development and work of the British Red Cross Society in every theatre of war. It would be deplorablei he said, if all the machinery and organisation for Red Cross work during the war were to be flung upon the scrap heap. It was the duty of the allied nations to broaden .the base of Bed Cross activity, so that the stricken peoples of a greatly distracted world might be guided through the long night of sororw to the golden dawning of a better day. It was made clear at the function that the representatives of many nations assembled there would strive'to promote the great Red Cross movement.

TERRITORIAL POLICY IN THE PACIFIC.

NAURU AND OCEAN ISLANDS. (Prom R. Riley, Official Journalist.) Paris, Feb. 2S. Almost all questions of British territorial policy are considered by tie British delegation, which is practically the Imperial War Cabinet, at the Peace Conference, and on several occasions the New Zealand delegates have taken part in the "conversations" of the Delegation respecting the disposal of enemy territory. It is also the practice of British delegates to submit to the Imperial Delegation memoranda on subjects requiring special consideration. The policy of Australia with regard to the Pacific islands was a case in point, a memorandum to the Delegation from the Bt. Hon. W. M. Hughes calling for an explanation by the Rt. Hon. W. F. Massey in respect of the policy of New Zealand with regard to the disposal of phosphate in the South Pacific. Mr Hughes dealt with the extent of control of former German territory, which Australia regarded as absolutely necessary to the Commonwealth's security, and emphasised the necessity for Australia obtaining unfettered control of German New'fiuinoa and the whole of the Bismark Archipelago, a? an integral part of Australia. It war essential to have full power to control immigration into these territories, and also full power to control trade with' them. The territories to which these considerations applied were not. only Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, but also the Bismarks, Book Island. New Britain, Now Ireland, New Hanover, and the Admiralty Islands. Australia was. of course, ready and willing to give tlli

desired guarantees covering the proper treatment of the natives. Special reference was made to the small isolated island of Nauru, whose nearest neighbors, it was explained, were Oeean Island, about a hundred miles away, and the Gilbert Group, both British. Nauru was wholly within the British area of influence, and lay some 800 miles from the Bismark Archipelago and more than three times that distance from New Zealand. Though Nauru had been under German dominion, the practical ownership was British, as a British company, the Pacific Phosphate Company had acquired in about 1902 from a German company, with the consent of the Imperial German authorities, the right to take and export fertiliser from the island. Australia would be satisfied with any form of mandate satisfactory to the British Government.

In a memorandum to the British Delegation, Mr Massey stated,that with the greater part of Mr Hughes' statement he entirely agreed. He thought, however, that one paragraph dealing with a matter of importance to New Zealand required further explanation. This was the reference to the Island of Nauru. Mr Massey explained further that New Zealand, like Australia, was already a very largo producer of exports, such as wool, meat and daily produce—all of which drew from the soil certain constituents that required to be replaced if fertility were to be maintained. For this purpose a good supply of phosphates at a reasonable price was absolutely essential. There were at Nauru and Ocean Island—two islands about 100 miles apart—large quantities of phosphate which should be made available ■for New Zealand and Australian producers. Mr Massey pointed out that Auckland and Sydney—the two main ports to which the fertilising substance from these islands would almost certainly be shipped—were about cqui-distant from Nauru and Ocean Island. The necessity for an adequate supply of phosphate for New Zealand was so great that during the war supplies were occasionally obtained from Red Sea ports. The Prime Minister* expressed his confidence that matters in respect of these islands would be arranged satisfactorily to both New Zealand and Australia, and also that the British Government and the British Empire Delegation would do what was right and proper in I the circumstances.

It may be mentioned that in addition to conducting New Zealand's case in respect of the disposal of Samoa, and consulting the high authorities in reference to the projected mandate for the administratidin of Samoa under New Zealand laws, with the necessary guarantees given regarding the treatment of the natives in relation to the arms, slave and liquor traffic, Mr Massey has had numerous conferences with the British Colonial and Foreign Offices, on questions concerning other islands in the South Pacific. It is only permissible to state at present that matters are progressing satisfactorily, although there are many complications to be either avoided altogether or overcome by diplomatic means.