TENTH ASSEMBLY

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 252, 23 September 1929, Page 7

TENTH ASSEMBLY

MEMORABLE SESSION.

BROTHERHOOD OF MANKIND.

CONSPICUOUS MILESTONE. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright). (British Official Wireless.) Received September 23, 10.50 a.m. RUGBY, Sept. 22. Mr Arthur Henderson, the British Foreign Secretary, who arrived in London yesterday evening from Geneva, stated to Press representatives at Victoria Station that it was his firm belief that the Tenth Assembly of the Leaguo of Nations would be a conspicuous milestone on the road toward the brotherhood of mankind. Mr Henderson declared: — “On the paramount questions of arbitration, security and disarmament, the British delegation has, I venture to say, spoken with a voice of conviction. Nor is it only by speeches that we have shown our determination to go ahead. “When the Prime Minister announced that the Governments of the British Commonwealth had all decided to sign the Optional Clause before the end of the Assembly, his words made a tremendous impression, .and they have had the practical result that no fewer than twelve new signatures will have been given before the Assembly separates next week.

“Remember that when the signatures have been ratified the four great European Powers Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy—will all be bound to send their legal disputes to the Permanent Court of International Justice for settlement, and that other very important countries like Brazil, Holland, Czecho-Slovakia, the Scandinavian States and others will also' be similarly bound. “We have also hopes that the other great nations will follow suit. This is, therefore, an important advance in the sphere of arbitration, and if it is not more than the first step it is, nevertheless, a big one.

“In other ways this Assembly will be a memorable one,” added Mr Henderson. “There was unanimously, passed a protocol which will, it is hoped, enable the United States of America to accept the statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice. That alone is a great achievement. We have a-lso endeavoured to bring the Covenant ihto consonance with the Pact of Peace, so that it will he clear from both these instruments that the nations of the world have renounced war as an act of national policy. DISARMAMENT PROPOSALS.

“A committee has been set up to consider our proposals in this connection on disarmament. Lord Cecil, who remains as the chief British delegate, made on Thursday a powerful appeal intended to strengthen the hands of the Preparatory Disarmament Commission in their work. The criticism has sometimes been made that the principal naval Powers ought, to give the lead in this work. The Assembly was, therefore, deeply interested in the Prime Minister’s account of his conversations with General Dawes, and the Preparatory Disarmament Commission is eagerly awaiting the results of our efforts and the decisions of the FivePower Naval Conference in the hope that they may achieve an effective limitation of naval armaments.

“We hope, also, that we have laid the foundation for solid progress in economic co-operation in respect cf matters that are vital to British trado. We have put forward practical proposals for a conference on hours, wages and conditions in the coal industry, and for agreements for the limitation of tariff barriers.

“Of course, in anything so controversial as tariff or wages questions, an agreement must be difficult to secure, and if we were to endeavour to rush our action we might spoil all chance of success. “Our proposals have, nevertheless, had the most satisfactory results. We hope that in a few months a conference on the coal question will meet, and that an economic armistice, as it has been called, which is to be the preliminary to a general tariff reduction conference, will have been agreed to.”

DISARMAMENT MOTION. BRITAIN’S WITHDRAWAL.

COMPROMISE MADE.

(Australian Press Association.) GENEVA, Sept. 21. The debate in the Third Committee ended in a compromise, Viscount Cecil withdrawing his motion in favour of one advanced by M. Politis, with which Viscount Cecil is satisfied. The British view is that her new disarmament push lias served a valuable purpose and is by no means the failure which the emasculation of the original resolution suggests. Viscount Cecil believed that he could actually have obtained a small majority if he had pressed the motion to a division. He would have received the support of all the Dominions, the Scandinavian countries, and the ex-enemy countries against the Little Entente led by France, but a narrow victory would not really have helped the cause of disarmament and might have embittered feeling and led to obstruction later. ■ The new British efforts have focussed attention anew on the people s general dissatisfaction at the lack of progress toward a real reduction of armaments and war material.