THE OPTIONAL CLAUSE

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 253, 24 September 1929, Page 7

THE OPTIONAL CLAUSE

EFFECT ON THE EMPIRE. SEARCHING FOR PEACE., FEAR OF DISSENSION. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) (Australian Press Association—United Service). LONDON, Sept. 22. “The signing of the Optional Clause of ‘Geneva’s ‘leap in the dark’ may have the most disintegrating effect on the British Empire,” states Professor J. H. Morgan in an article in the Sunday Referee. Professor Morgan adds: “It will almost certainly be used by elements in two overseas Dominions and India, which make no secret of their political objective of secession from the Empire. The terms of South Africa’s subscription are obscure, but they suggest a glancing blow at the Privy Council. The Irish Free State have subscribed in unreserved terms, of which it is no exaggeration to say that they are calculated to deal a letlral blow at the constitutional structure of the Empire. “It is true that Britain signed with a reservation excluding interimperial disputes from the jurisdiction of The Hague Court, but a fatal flaw in this reservation is that The Hague Court itself will be the sole judge as to whether a dispute is an inter-im-perial dispute. “By adhering to tho optional clause, continues Professor Morgan, “we have played into the hands of secessionists. The Irish Free State, having signed without reservation, many summon Britain before the court to decide its obligations under the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Worse still, if India gets Dominion status she may follow the Irish precedent, signing without reservation and then summon before the court the Dominions which exclude Oriental migrants, as was pointed out by New Zealand in 1925. “Our adhesion to the court s compulsory jurisdiction is unnecessary and undesirable, but if anything is to be gained thereby wo should have taken care to secure that the Empire acted unitedly and agreed to identical reservations. “I fear,” concludes Professor Morgan, “that in seeking peace outside the Empire we have only succeeded in sowing seeds of dissension within it.”

Professor J. H. Morgan has filled the Chair of Constitutional Law at London University since 1908. He has had considerable journalistic experience, having served on the staff of the London Daily Chronicle for some years and was subsequently a leader-writer for the Manchester Guardian. He is examiner to the Civil Service Commission and the Universities of London, New Zealand and Dublin, and was Rhodes Lecturer to tho University in the Laws of the Empire in 1913. Professor Morgan served with the Army during the war, attaining the rank of BrigadierGeneral, and in the immediate post-war years served on several important commissions set up in connection with matters arising out of the conflict. Professor Morgan is the author of several important publications.