GREAT GATHERING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10226, 1 May 1911, Page 6

GREAT GATHERING.

UNLIMITED ARBITRATION.

MEETING AT GUILDHALL

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received April 29, 9 a.m.) LONDON, April 28. At the Guildhall, a meeting was "held in support of the British Amen--1 can unlimited arbitration proposal oi President Taft. There was an enormous attendance The Lord Mayor of London (SirT. Vezey Strong) presided, and among those present were Sir Joseph | Ward, Sir George Reid (High Commissioner for Australia), and Sir William Hall Jones (High Commissioner for New Zealand). All the political, commercial and religious interests of the nation were represented in the audience. . Mr Asquith, Prime Minister, moved a motion welcoming Mr Taft's proposals, and pledging the meeting to. support the principles of general arbitration. It was not, said Mr Asquith Utopian to expect the abandonment ot international duelling. The proposed treaty had no ulterior political purpose, neither was it intended as a menace to the rest of the world. It only meant that war should be ruled out as an instrument for settling ml ternational differences, and they might hope and believe that other things would follow. "Meantime," concluded the Prime Minister, "we can not forgo precautions for the stewardship of our world-wide trust." MR BALFOUR SECONDS THE MOTION. Mr Balfour, Leader of the Opposition, said he did not share.the view that paper barriers could be swept away under the strain of international rivalry. When laws and treaties were not in advance of public opinion, they should be honourably recognised. He believed that public opinion in England and the United States was ripe for an agreement such as that suggested. They must not confuse the question with one of preparations for war. An arbitration treaty would not, added Mr Balfour, lessen the worldwide responsibilities of the parties to it. The motion was carried unanimous]y. SIR JOSEPH ward: The Lord Mayor invited Sir Joseph Ward, Prime Minister of New Zealand, to endorse the resolution. it Sir Joseph, who was accorded an ovation when he arose to speak, said the people of New Zealand appreciated the striking advance Mr Taft's proposals were upon any existing treaty. The world had seen hitherto that questions of national honour had been uniformly omitted from international treaties. These too often in the past had kept the word of promise to the ear, while in the hour of crisis they had been broken. V The hope underlying the ptesent proposal was the genuine, sincere, national love of peace marking two of the most progressive countries of the worlds Speaking bn> behalf of New Zealand and thef cither oversea dominions, Sir Joseph heartily supported the motion, in the interests of the Anglo-Saxon race and the world at large.