THE NEXT WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 83, 8 April 1925, Page 5

THE NEXT WAR.

NIGHTMARE OP EUROPE. THE INFLUENCE OF BRITAIN. LONDON, April 7. "A fear is brooding over Europe today," said Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in a speech at Birmingham. "It is the fear that war may break out again.

"Unless that fear can be relieved, and unless securjty can be given, it is brought home to mc every day at my work that Europe is moving uneasily and slowly, but certainly, to a - new catastrophe," continued the Minister.

Referring to the Geneva protocol, ho said that, instead of being an instrument for maintaining" peace, it might become a great instrument for waging war.

Proceeding. Mr. Chamberlain Paid: "We are seeking to use our influence, our power and the detachment of Britain and the British Empire from immediate anxieties on the Continent in order to bring together the enemies of yesterday into a mutual pact. To such a pact we would be parties, and, by our common guarantee, we would give stability and protection to the frontiers.

"We wish to-bring new confidence into the relations between the nations. It seems to Britain, the United States and to other great Powers, that some questions are so vital to the honour, even to the life of a nation, that they cannot be referred to arbitration.

"The British Government feels that the time has not yet come for a general increase in this country's obligations and responsibilities. A multiplication of sanctions would, it seems to mc. endanger the fundamental position of the League of Xations as an instrument of peace. "If the peace treaties are to be changed it must be solely because all the parties to them feel that a change is desirable."—(A. and X.Z. Cable.)