UNITED NATIONS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 268, 23 August 1945, Page 6

UNITED NATIONS

LATE CABLE ‘

.. DISCUSSION IN COMMONS. BRITAIN’S APPROVAL SOUGHT. RIGHTS OF SMALL STATES. (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) (Rec. 2.45 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 22. The Prime Minister (the Rt. . Hon., C. R. Attlee), moving a resolution in the House of Commons approving the United Nations Charter, said the success of the new organisation would not depend on the exact provisions but on the spirit in which they were worked. Mr Attlee said that if a Great Power resolved not to carry out the Charter’s principles, no paper provision could restrain it. Failure by the Great Powers to agree and act' together would inevitably mean the organisation’s ruin. The Charter endeavoured to put into practical form the deep feeling of ■the peoples, including the fighting men, who made it possible. The Charter went beyond the League of Nations’ powers in providing for the rights of minorities. “Can anyone deny that the kind of treatment meted out. by the Nazis to the Jews is a question which transcends mere domestic jurisdiction? If there should arise—-God ’ forbid —anything like this persecution in other lands, the new organisation will take a note of it and take action,” said Mr Attlee. Collection action was not merely a promise to act when an emergency occurred but action and co-operation to prevent an emergency occurring. The League of Nations came into action at too. late a stage. Mr Attlee said he hoped the error had been corrected. What was required was - continual discussions on international affairs, not spasmodic action in crises. Mr Attlee, reverting to the San Francisco Conference, said the most critical debates turned on the point of how a small nation’s right could he preserved while the Great Powers were given a position commensurate to their importance and responsibility. There was considerable agreement that t]f.e matter could not be settled by putting all States completely on a level oblivious to their population. The extent of the power of small States and the ultimate acceptance of the broad lines of the Great Powers’ proposals was due. to the fact that the Charter’s basis corresponded to the world’s realities to-day. A Great Instrument. Mr Attlee said: “This is a. great Charter. It. is a great instrument ready to be used in the interest of world peace and prosperity. I do not. say it is the final step. The Charter itself may be amended as the result of experience. All of us realise that We are now faced With the _ naked choice between world co-operation and world destruction. With tfie consciousness of Aix years of war behind us and the' possibilities which hang over us in the future, I commend the Charter to the House.” Mr R. A. Eden, to whom Mr Attlee paid tribute to his leadership at San Francisco, especially in the early stages, welcomed the fact that the Charter did not enforce the boundaries and organisation and, unlike the League, was not tied up with the peace treaty. Mr Eden added that it was ludicrous to suggest, that the great Powers dictated to the small Powers’ commission or committee on which all the participating nations represented examined every article in the Charter. Every stem had been carried by a two-thirds majority. “If ever there is a subject on which there ought to be unanimity it is this.” The new Lord Chancellor, Sir William Jowitt, making his maiden speech in the House of Lords, moved the ratification of the United Nations’ Charter. The Charter contains the difference between life and death for civilisation. As we know it, the Charter is the outward and-visible sign of the determination of the nations which ovon the war to co-operate until peace is established. Such a firm foundation tis that, cannot be overthrown.” Lord Cranborne said the Charter gave the world one more chance of putting its affairs on a better basis. Viscount Samuel suggested that a national rather than a- purely Labour Government delegation should attend Hie peace conference. That would be a visible expression of Britain’s unity on foreign policy. The debate was adjourned.