PEACE WITH A SWORD.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 220, 16 September 1924, Page 5

PEACE WITH A SWORD.

ROYAL NAVY AS POLICE. DESIRE OF THE POWERS. ■ ■ I LEAGUE OF NATIONS PARLEY.! _ ' I (By Cable—rress .Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, September 15. The diplomatic correspondent of the '•Daily Telegraph" states that certain Continental Powers at Geneva are making a deliberate attempt to involve the British Kmpirc in naval commitments <.f an exacting character. The question relates to the action to be taken by the League of Nations under Article 1G against a State breaking t\w Covenant. It is now- proposed that the British Navy should be placed unreservedly at » the disposal of the League in order to enforce an award by the Hague World Court, or a majority vote of the [League's Council. Certain Powers also : propose that Britain should act as "conI stable of the seas" in any conflict, and ' that the "British Navy should be under an absolute obligation to put into effect an economic boycott or a blockade. Such a duty would be financially onerous. Moreover, it is easy to see, says the correspondent, that it might involve Britain in a serious international quarrel over these matters. ' Indeed. American opinion is already 'commenting with some bitterness on a pretention which is wrongly ascribed to Britain, thqugh really it is a French proposal.— (A. and X.Z. Cable.) I =