THE BIG THREE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 56, 7 March 1929, Page 7

THE BIG THREE.

LEAGUE COMMITTEE. Procedure Regarding Minority Petitions. ALTERATION DESIRED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 12 noon.) RUGBY, March 6. A proposal by Senator Dandurand, of Canada, to "modify the procedure regarding petitions from minorities was discussed by the League of Nations Council to-day. Mr. Dandurand proposed that in future petitions be dealt with by the League Council instead of by the present committee of three. Heir Stresemann, German Foreign Minister, approved the proposal. Sir Austen Chamberlain defended the committee of three. He said the committee had always dealt with the various cases according to the rights they had under treaties and could not go outside them. They had always taken up all the cases which might produce ill will between nations and had undertaken an examination of tJie petitions brought before them. One thing which showed that the work they had done had not been so bad after all, was that any member of the Council could at any time bring up a question regarding minorities, even after a decision had been given by the committee of three. Hitherto no one had ever appealed to the Council after the committee had given a decision. He was sure any impartial person, when shown the documents and the work which the committee had done, would be perfectly satisfied they had achieved, in a large measure, the purpose for which the eystein had been initiated. He suggested that in future greater publicity should be given to the work of the committee so as to remove the misapprehension and uneasiness. The main defect of the present procedure was delay. He hoped they would be able to devise a means of expediting the system. The question of minorities should not be a source of oppression or a menace to the peace of the world. In conclusion Sir Austen agreed with other members of the Council that the question was too large and too detailed to be handled in one session of the Council. He agreed that a reporter should be appointed with one or two members of the Council as assistants to conduct a thorough inquiry into the entire question, to obtain the fullest information as to procedure which Had been in force up to now, as to the obligations and duties of minorities and to make recommendations as to what changes in the method adopted by the League were, in their opinion, necessarv. The Council adjourned until to-morrow when Mr. Adatchi, reporter on the general question of minorities, will present a draft resolution providing for an examination and report on the advisability of changing the Council's procedure regarding minority petitions.