PEACE CONGRESS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 August 1938, Page 9

PEACE CONGRESS

GLASGOW EXHIBITION EVENT. EMPIRE’S FOREIGN POLICY. The Empire .Exhibition in Glasgow is now well under way. It is proving itself a tremendous success as a demonstration of the commercial and economic might of the British Empire. While recognising that their pavilion at the Exhibition expresses in some measure the general desire for peace, the Scottish Peace Council felt that something more than a statement of the case for peace was necessary. The Exhibition seemed to afford a unique opportunity for the discussion of the peace problems common to all nations of the Empire by those actively engaged in promoting peace. Hence the decision to hold a Peace and Empire Congress.

It is an undoubted fact that the British Empire has a foreign policy that is largely unified. Local circumstances and the differing complexions of governments may make the nations within the Empire pull in different directions at times. The Dominions may have their own representatives in the League of Nations, and India may have a representative appointed by Great Britain, and these representatives may have independent views. But there is one over-riding consideration, which can always serve to bring recalcitrant governments into line—the fact that the forces of defence (and of aggression) are to all intents and purposes unified, and any nation within the Empire must rely on the Navy, Army, and Air Force of Great Britain as the power behind its diplomatic negotiation. This supremely important fact makes it imperative that the movements working for peace within the Empire should aim at a greater measure of concerted action and a higher degree of understanding than .has hitherto been attempted. It is a truly remarkable, and one might add, regrettable fact that an Empire Peace Congress has never been held. It is hoped that this gap in the organisation in the world peace movement will be remedied this year in Glasgow. -

The proposed Congress has received widespread support from prominent men and women of all shades of opinion and in all walks of life. Viscount Cecil, who was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, has consented to preside on the opening day, and Sir John Stewart, the Lord Provost of Glasgow, is President of the Congress Committee. The Scottish Peace Council has obtained the full support of the International Peace Campaign and the National Peace Council in this great undertaking and is relying on the organised peace movements overseas to play their part in securing really comprehensive representation. The work of the Congress will be divided into two parts, a survey of the present international situation in relation to the Empire and the League of Nations and consideration of a peace policy for the peoples of the Empire. Authoritative speakers will lead discussion at all sessions, including a full quota from the Dominions and Colonies.

The Congress will be held from September 23 to September 25 and will serve as a climax to the summer’s activities for peace in Scotland. Its success will clearly depend on its universality—that is, on the measure of support that it receives in. all parts of the Empire. With this support it is possible for the Congress to play a vital part in the present desperate struggle for peace.