Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JULY 22, 1938. AN ENTENTE MAINTAINED.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1938, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JULY 22, 1938. AN ENTENTE MAINTAINED.

ALTHOUGH it is in great part a joyous progress, the visit of the King and Queen to France is calculated also to awaken other feelings and perhaps other anticipations than those that attend the friendly contact of two great nations mutually intent on peace. An essential object of the Royal tour is the unveiling by his Majesty of the Australian War Memorial at Villers Bretonneux and there is another impressive reminder of the ordeal and sacrifices of the Great War in the King’s act of homage at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris. As the King himself recalled, a memorable visit paid by his late father to France in 1914 —an occasion on which the Entente was confirmed —was followed closely by the Great War in which the Entente, as his Majesty said, received its baptism of fire. It must be hoped that history" will not repeat' itself in this particular, but it would be merely foolish not to recognise that the Royal visit to France, with its emphatic assertion of the strength of the bonds of friendship and mutual interest in which Britain and France are linked, has no unimportant place in a chain of developments in which issues of peace or war are involved. It may be considered that the visit of the King and Queen to,France, in the circumstances in which it is taking place, marks a definite change in British foreign policy, or at all events a vital readjustment of that policy, in the direction of asserting the aims and united determination of the European democracies in more confident and assured tones than have been used during the last year or two. The King, in any ease, has spoken in bold and free terms of the strength and the duty of the’ democracies. Declaring in his first speech in Paris that Britain and France were proud of their political faith, he said also that they fully realised that it carried with it heavy responsibilities, “and in the period in which we live it‘demands from us all to a high degree noble qualities of courage, wisdom and determination.” All the world knows that, as the King affirmed, Britain and France seek a solution of international problems by means of true co-operation, but it is as well known that the co-operation thus offered has been flouted and rejected thus far by the leaders of the Fascist dictatorships. It is perhaps not extravagant to read in the present emphatic demonstration and assertion of Anglo-French friendship and unity of purpose a warning to aggressors that there are limits to the policy of conciliation. It is of interest, and possibly of some promise, that an overture by the German Fuehrer in which he seeks improved relations with Britain is reported to have been made coincidently with the Royal visit to France. An understanding with Germany and with other nations is greatly to be desired, but if it is to have any value, it must be based on that respect for international law in which, as President Lebrun has said, Britain and France are equally interested. The immediate and somewhat staggering task confronting Britain and France is that of inducing a respect for international law in countries dominated, as a British financial journal, “The Banker,” said some time ago of Germany, “by men who worship force and have shown no hesitation in using murder as an instrument of domestic and foreign policy.” THE APPEAL OF ART. A CALL by the Masterton Sketch Club for more members, and particularly for youthful members, is one to which there should be a ready response. These are days in which it is more than ever necessary and desirable to cultivate the arts, as distinct from the mechanics and mass-production methods of life. Those who possess even in a modest degree a natural talent for drawing or painting, or some comparable talent, are thereby endowed with the key to a finer and richer life than is open to those less happily gifted. To many members of this fortunate company, at all events in their salad days, membership of a sketch club, organised as is the Masterton Sketch Club to foster and encourage talent, offers an important part of the atmosphere they need. In contact with their fellow members and with instructed critics they will find congenial companionship, ready assistance in overcoming detail difficulties, and a broadening of outlook and experience. No one who is possessed of artistic gifts should be willing to neglect the cultivation of the powers these gifts connote. Young people, particularly, who are possessed of the seeing eye and the clever hand should be very glad indeed to respond to an overture like that of the Masterton Sketch Club.