A GENEROUS FOREIGN MINISTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 215, 11 September 1929, Page 6

A GENEROUS FOREIGN MINISTER.

Our Foreign Minister . appears to have caused something in the way a sensation in political circles at Home by expressing his willingness to sign. an agreement by which Britain and.the other Powers would bind themselves reciprocally to give financial assistance to "victims of aggression" in ease of future .wars. For -the most serious objection to such an agreement is that Britain can have no'guarantee that this arrangement would be carried out reciprocally. She would certainly honour her bond, but the experiences of the Great War suggest that she would have difficulty in collecting the subscriptions due to her if ever she should be numbered among "victims of aggression." Moreover, Mr. Henderson's readiness to impose further gratuitous responsibilities on Britain contrasts forcibly with the assurance so recently given by Mr. Snowden that the British Government is tire* of making generous concessions and will make no more. The "Daily Herald denies/that: Mr. Henderson's action has produce "a split in the Cabinet,"- but his views will certainly need some adjustment to make them square with the Government's declared policy or with the present state of public feeling at Home.