A.—s

to finding some other schemes for security. None of these critics was satisfied with the progress made by the Disarmament Commission. It was noteworthy that most of the delegates who were concerned with the slowness of the proceedings in the Preparatory Commission fully recognized that the great difficulty lay in securing a spirit of " moral " disarmament among the peoples by first bringing about in each case a feeling of absolute security before any State would consent to reduce or extinguish its armed forces and throw away the weapons of war. Perhaps the resolutions ultimately achieved by the committee may be summarized by pointing out that we recommended the creation of a special committee which should take its instructions from the Preparatory Commission, and would study, under the direction of the Preparatory Commission, the best means of giving all countries the guarantees of arbitration and security necessary to enable these countries to fix the level of their armaments at the lowest possible figures. So that for the future (working pari passu with the Preparatory Commission) we shall have a special committee consisting of the representatives of all States having seats on the Preparatory Commission, and endeavouring, in the case of every State, to bring about by arbitration and mutual agreements and guarantees (probably of a regional character) the state of absolute security which alone will give an impetus to the actual work of disarmament. I attach a great deal of importance to the work entrusted to this special committee. It will study the circumstances of each country. Thus it may be able, by apposite suggestion and conciliatory counsel, and by satisfactory guarantees, to bring about a state of security which would be a prelude to a disarmament of warlike forces. lam satisfied that unless security can be given to the various peoples involved the work of the Disarmament Committeo will be most difficult, if not impossible. Finally, in my opinion the work of the Third Committee was excellently done. There was much tactful forbearance, much friendly and helpful counsel, between the various delegates, with the result that we were able unanimously to agree upon a single recommendation to. the Assembly which sufficiently covered the three or four texts of the Netherlands, Norwegian, French, and German delegations. May I conclude my reference to this aspect with the statement that all the delegations were agreed that the work for disarmament should be prosecuted with the utmost energy. The Preparatory Commission was strongly urged to hasten the completion of its technical work, and to convene the Conference on the Limitation and Reduction of Armaments immediately this work has been completed. Later, the Assembly declared that the measures capable of giving the States the necessary guarantees of arbitration and security so as to enable them to fix the level of their armaments at the lowest possible figures could best be found in agreements between the nations, after the type of the Locarno Treaty, or in preparing machinery of a general character, to be employed by the organs of the League, to enable its members to perform their obligations under the various articles of the Covenant. In other words, the securities and powers already given in the Covenant itself were to be further and more intensively exploited by the members of the League. I gave my adherence strongly to this latter aspect, feeling as I do that while in the last seven or eight years there has been a great deal of discussion, in the League and out of it, as to the need for a special protocol after the character of the Geneva proposal of 1924, yet it would appear that already in the Covenant itself, and especially in its terms dealing with arbitration and disarmament, there are very full powers which the League has not yet fully exploited or used. A most important indication in another direction of the feeling of the Third Committee and of the Assembly may be found in the last paragraph of the committee's report, which suggested that the Council should request the several States to inform the Council of the measures they would be prepared to take to support the Council's decisions in the event of a conflict breaking out in a given region. Each State, therefore, in the future (and this is of importance to New Zealand) may be invited by the Council to indicate in a particular case what it is prepared to do in the way of bringing its forces into the field to intervene in a conflict to support the Council's decisions and recommendations. I ought here to state that I and other Dominion representatives made it clear to the committee that faraway Dominions such as Australia and New Zealand could not reasonably be expected to give, and in any case would not commit themselves to, any pledge or guarantee respecting the integrity of the boundaries of mid-European Powers, nor would we send forces (naval or military) to the scene of the conflict to support the Council's decisions. I said that I agreed entirely with the declaration contained in Sir Austen Chamberlain's speech when he pointed out that Great Britain has gone as far as the Rhine frontier in giving guarantees, and was not prepared to go any further. I stated, further, that I considered that while there undoubtedly should be guarantees of security, these guarantees ought to be of a regional character only, and should be entered into by the Powers most directly concerned ; and, lastly, that no one could reasonably ask a country twelve thousand miles away, as is the case of New Zealand, that it should be as intimately concerned about matters such as the Dantzig corridor, the Vistula boundary, and the Polish or Balkan frontiers as the European countries in close connection with the locus in quo of these litigated districts. Lastly, as to the questions of security and disarmament, I opine that by the time the Assembly meets next year a critical stage will have arrived in the history of the League. It will be evident by September, 1928, as to whether the work of obtaining peace for the European world by bringing about a substantial limitation of armed forces and equipment is to be a reality or a dream. The good faith of the various Powers on the Continent will have been put to the test. One can only watch with supreme interest the future proceedings of the Disarmament Committee, with its ally the special committee aforesaid, and express the hope that the labours of the Preparatory Commission may result in a distinct advance in the actual work of reducing or limiting armaments, and thus may ease the

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