The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1922. THE PACIFIC TREATY.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 March 1922, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1922. THE PACIFIC TREATY.

The unanimous ratification by the United States Senate of both the main and supplementary Treaties concerning the future of the Pacific must be regarded with satisfaction. The Treaty had a contentious passage in the Senate, being obstructed by a cloud of amendments and attempted reservations, and, though it was confidently expected that its ratification would be carried, the happening of the unexpected in the Senate is always possible. President Harding and’ his Secretary of State (Mr. Hughes) threw the whole weight of their influence into the scale. Happily the Pacific Treaty met with a different fate to the Peace Treaty, and its ratification will go far to strengthen the League of Nations and the cause of prolonged peace. The view expressed by the Australian delegate to the Washington Conference (Senator G. F. Pearce),

when interviewed on his recent arrival at Wellington, may be accepted as conveying that gratification which must be felt by all the nations interested, none more so than the Commonwealth and New Zealand.. There is every reason to believe that Japan will loyally accept the Treaty, and as the attitude of that country is the dominating feature of the whole situation, a great anxiety has been lifted from the Dominions. How long the present policy of the Japanese Government will continue it is impossible to conjecture, for the country is by no means so settled in its politics as could be desired. All that can be done to'further peace in the Pacific has been accomplished—at least for the time being—and it will certainly be to Japan’s interest to work in harmony with the other Powers represented at the Conference. It was quite justifiable to provide for the exclusion from the scope of the Treaty all questions lying exclusively within the domestic jurisdiction of the Powers signatory to the Four Power Treaty, for it is on these questions that friction might, well he expected to arise. The chief reason for satisfaction at. the ratification of the Treaty is that all

the essential and vital fundamentals of accord have been created » in such a manner as to eliminate, or at least to reduce to a negligible quantity, all serious differences. In this respect the Treaty stands out as the greatest , international achievement of the recent Conference, and forms a precedent for future success in dealing with matters of controversy between nations, while it shows how divergent views on which questions of policy might become so acute as to reach a serious crisis, can be discussed and amicably adjusted at a round table gathering of duly accredited representatives of the Powers. The attainment of an agreement on all matters affecting the Pacific zone is all the more gratifying by reason of the fact that it was in the Pacific that the next great war was expected to rage. The tact, wisdom, foresight and elasticity required to negotiate a settlement of such a complex and delicate problem can hardly he realised by most people. though the result is universally acclaimed. There is no dispute that, cannot be adjusted if the right methods are used, and that is why the League of Nations was created. The United States Senate turned down the League, but by ratifying the Pacific Treaty has practically en-

dorsed’ the principle dominating the League, for whatever happens in the future. America will morally. be bo.uud to Hfthold the

Treaty. For the present the good work achieved at Washington is an earnest of that higher policy which should rule the civilised world.