LEAGUE ASSEMBLY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 September 1938, Page 6

LEAGUE ASSEMBLY

MR JORDAN’S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS STRONG IMPRESSION MADE ON DELEGATES INDICATIONS OF EMPIRE UNITY (Recd This Day, 11.5 a.m.) LONDON, September 12. The Australian Associated Press Geneva correspondent says a sudden hush greeted the unexpected references to the crisis made by Mr W. J. Jordan (New Zealand High Commissioner) at the end of his presidential speech. It was believed that the address would not directly refer to Czechoslovakia. This was Mr Jordan’s intention, but at the last moment he added what is regarded as a most significant passage. Delegates plainly showed that they had not missed the implications of the declaration that an aggressor,could not count on the neutrality of “even the countries appearing most remote.’ This was accepted as the first official affirmation of Empire unity in the event of war. It can especially be regarded as such because it is understood that the British Government was apprised of Mr Jordan's addition, in which it entirely concurred, as giving an indication of the tenor of recent exchanges between Whitehall and the Dominions. Mr Jordan’s sincerity and dignity at a moment when the League is weighted down with apprehension profoundly impressed the crowded Assembly. Delegates manifested lively interest when he urged the abolition of aerial bombardment.

The presidential address has been for years dutifully acknowledged, but Mr Jordan sat down amid prolonged applause. Mr R. A. Butler (British Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs) later told him the speech had greatly gratified Britain because, owing to the complexities of rotation, New Zealand might not again presidentially address the Assembly for another thirty years.