HAS THE LEAGUE FAILED?

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 124, 27 May 1932, Page 6

HAS THE LEAGUE FAILED?

The keen disappointment felt by friends of the League of Nations over the failure of the League to prevent hostilities in the Far Ease was dealt with by Bishop Sprott in his charge to the Wellington Diocesan Synod— another proof of the interest that the Churches are taking in world affairs. After mentioning the sanctions to which the League could resort in the case of a covenanWn-eaking member, he said that it was probable that under existing world conditions the League either could not or dare not resort to any of the penalties he had mentioned. Japan was bound by the Covenant, by the Kellogg Pact and by the Nine Power Treaty to employ only pacific means in the settlement of any dispute. Instead of doing so, Japan resorted to armed force to secure redress for her alleged grievances against China. There was an influential body of public opinion in favour of Japan, and this obscured the real issue, which was whether the Covenant, Pact and Treaty were to be vital instruments for securing peace, or whether they were to be empty Words with no weight behind them. The comparative failure of the League was a failure of moral forces. It lacked the backing of united public opinion. Yet the League remains a noble constructive effort for peace. It is the macninery, but th: machine cannot function without the driving force of public opinion in favour of justice and international righteousness.