PEACE BY FORCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 218, 13 September 1924, Page 7

PEACE BY FORCE.

AND THE ROYAL NAVY. ! i EEW NEUTRALS, FEW WARS. ACADEMIC DISCUSSION. I ; j :'Ey Cable.—Press Association.—Convrizht.i I I I i CEXEVA. September 12. | A committee of the League of Nations : ' has commenced consideration of the constitutional and legal aspect* of the articles of the Covenant relating to international disputes, and the Court of . Arbitration. Sir Cecil Hurst, legal adviser to the -' British Foreign office, outlining the c British difficulties, wanted a more pre- . cisc definition. In the event eif the , League calling up the forces of all the ! Powers for enforcing arbitration, this 1 would necessitate the British Heel i patrolling the seas and protecting neu- , trals, extending the League's force to the ocean highways and preventing trade with the enemy. The fleet would almost cortainly thereby come into conflict with other nations." Britain wanted ( the Covenant defined clearly to provide , that, if, after her acceptance of the compulsory arbitration clause, her fleet at, the League's command, undertook cer- i tain action, she would not later be called i hefore the Court, because its action had 1 violate-d the rights of some Powers. The lause must be denned to prevent - Britain, while protecting an attacked ccuntry, becoming herself the aggressor. ' Another delegate said it was hoped ■' that with fewer neutrals there would be - fewer wars. Though Britain wa= once I regarded as the tyrant of the seas, the ' war years had shown what a good tyrant < the fleet was. The British and Dominion delegates 1 eemferred anel agreed on the general '• trend of Sir Cecil Hurst's speech.—l A. and X.Z.—"Sun.") . i