Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1938. “REFORMING” THE LEAGUE.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 November 1938, Page 6

Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1938. “REFORMING” THE LEAGUE.

PROPOSALS to “reform” the League of Nations have been much in the air of late, and according to a message from London yesterday, are likely to receive a new impetus from the efforts that are being made to establish a FourPow'er.Pact in Western Europe. It is suggested that MrChamberlain’s unconcealed anxiety to reach a general understanding with Germany, and Herr Hitler’s inclination to favour either a “reformed” League or a new organisation taking its place, may involve proposals for the suppression or amendment of several articles of the Covenant, notably articles 10, 16 and 26. These articles deal respectively with joint guarantees of territorial integrity and sovereignty, with sanctions against aggressors, and with amendments to the Covenant. A great deal, of course, must depend on the precise nature of the amendments proposed, but it must be hoped that Britain will not lend herself, as has been suggested, to the policy of pressing Russia out of the League in order to open the way to understanding and agreement with the other totalitarian States. Admittedly there are a. number of particulars in which the organisation of the League might advantageously be amended and strengthened, but the primary condition of any progress in that direction is that the constitution of the League should be broadened and not narrowed. As against the speculations now current, an explicit statement of the views of the British Government pn the reform of the League was made at Geneva only about six weeks ago by Ear] De La Warr, then Lord Privy Seal. Lord De La Warr said, amongst other things, that the real essence of the League lay in the recognition of the principle of peaceful change and the prohibition of war until all means of pacific settlement have been exhausted. This flexible and comprehensive machinery for the settlement of disputes (the British Minister added) has not received the attention it merits and has been overshadowed by the coercive clauses. Any enhancement of the strength of this machinery will be welcomed by the United Kingdom Government. Maintaining that there was nothing essentially wrong with the Covenant, Lord De La Warr said the British Government favoured the separation of the Covenant from the Peace Treaties. Summing up the position, he declared: — There is only a frail barrier between society on the one hand and disruption on the other. The League stands midway between, and it is the firm intention of the United Kingdom Government to preserve it. If it did not exist today, statesmen would be seeking means of constructing it. The worl,d has gone both mad and bestial. The task before this generation is to recreate a belief in the things which make life worth while. Much might be built on the basis thus outlined. The League is needed as a concrete expression of the only alternative to international anarchy and lawlessness. There can be no question, however, of building up and strengthening the League by casting out of its membership nations which have loyally observed its principles, in order to curry favour with others which have trampled those same principles under foot. In the state to which the world is reduced today there can be no hope of quick, easy and spectacular success in making the League a fully effective influence for good in international affairs. . On the other hand, an abandonment of effort to that end would entail, as Lord De La Warr suggested, an assumption that there is no other future for humanity than one of madness and bestiality. Even in this country and in other parts of the British Empire there is a great deal of glib talk about the “failure of the League” and questions are raised as to.whether it is worth the money that is being spent upon it. It needs to be recognised that the success or the League is not something external, to be regarded with indifferent unconcern, but rather something on which the whole fate and future of humanity depend. Those who would deride and cast away the League are in effect asserting that brute force alone must rule in world affairs.

CENTENNIAL PLANTING. A' GOOD deal of support seems likely to be forthcoming for the idea that this district should establish its centennial memorial by planting trees along highways and in other suitable areas. It may be hoped, at least, that full and fair consideration will be given by district local bodies to the proposal that half a mile of highway adjacent to each borough in the Wairarapa should be planted with suitable trees. While the scheme has its appeal and value to the district as a whole, it also affords full scope for the development and application of initiative and enterprise in each locality concerned. Trees that will thrive in one .area may be quite- unsuitable in another. It certainly should not discourage enterprise that there are problems to be solved and difficulties to be overcome in carrying the scheme into effect. The planting of short lengths of highways by way of a centennial memorial may point the way to much more extended action on similar lines as time goes on. If the most is made of the opportunities it opens up, the planting of highways no doubt will ensure the establishment of a centennial memorial of notable grace and beauty.