WORLD OUTLOOK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 June 1938, Page 8

WORLD OUTLOOK

HOPES OF AVOIDING WAR mr. d. McGregor’s views. THE POPULATION PROBLEM. “I think that the treaty was so monstrously unfair that you could not expect any great nation to abide by it,” remarked the president, Mr D. McGregor, when' referring generally to world affairs and in particular to Germany’s claims for the return of her colonies, at today’s meeting of the Wairarapa Patriotic Association. Mr McGregor said he had been asked when the association was going to start a No. 2 account in preparation for the next war. Things certainly looked serious, but he did not think our population was any different to that in other parts of the world and that the general feeling would be against war. "Whether war would be forced upon us by dictators, however, " was another matter. “I believe,” he added, “that w.ar will be staved off and that we will develop into a better League of Nations that will solve the problems now causing so much concern. There is a movement at Home for some measure of international police force. Theoretically,_ it is an argument that cannot be avoided, I see no reason why the principle of the ordinary police force should not be extended to the nations at large. Something more should be attempted that economic sanctions to ensure permanent peace. “I think we as British people are more involved than most people realise. It is not generally appreciated that we are a declining nation. It has been estimated that in ten years’ time the population of the British Isles will be five millions less than at present and will then decline at a more rapid rate. That affects us in New Zealand seriously, because if the market at Home goes down we will have to rely more on local markets —and our own population is dropping. In a few years we will not be able to get immigrants from England and will have to' stay stationary or else get them from somewhere else.” Mr H. M. Boddington said he did not think they would ever have to establish a No. 2 account. If war did break out he thought they could rely on the patriotic feeling of the district as in the past. They could only hope that the saner counsels prevailing in England today would have their effect over the whole world.