INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 229, 27 September 1935, Page 11

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS.

ADDRESS TO LYCEUM CLUB.

The current events circle of the Lyceum Club held its monthly meeting in the lounge of the club on Wednesday when a largo gathering of members and friends was present. The room was attractively dccorated with tall vases of ranunculi in shades of bronze, pink and heliotrope stock and low bowls of yellow primroses. The speaker for the evening was Professor 11. R. Rodwell, M.A., Dip. Soc. Sci., who gave 1111 illuminating address on "International Relations."

"If the nations of Europe could only apply to themselves the ago-old maxim, 'Know thyself,' they would soon sec that they were all a little mad," he said, in analysing the difliculty and confusion of the political and economic situation in Europe. This confusion he ascribed to the fact that the dominating forces in international relations were the complexes of fear and inferiority and that reason and sanity had given place to these obsessions. As a result of these fears, nations had striven towards isolation. The sense of inferiority, he considered, could be removed only by insistence upon absolute equality of status among the larger powers.

Professor Rodwell gave a searching examination of the international situation as it had been affected by events ill and connected with Germany. "I am not surprised that Germany began to rearm,' he said. '"What does surprise me is that she refrained from doing so for so long." The fact that Germany s right to equality of status had been ceded at the Disarmament Conference in 1032, but that no further action had been taken, liad, in his opinion, resulted in the loss of a golden opportunity of securing European peace and co-opera-tion. Moreover, the international situation had been made materially worse by laying the blame 011 Germany for the repudiation of the Treaty of Versailles. "With Germany outside the League, true peace in Europe, that is peace based on the collective system, is virtually impossible."

The speaker, who travelled through Europe last year about the time of Russia's entry into the League, emphasised the intense anti-war feeling in Germany and said the desire of peace there was amazingly strong. He considered that Germany's attitude on the Abyssinian situation was an earnest of her tiustworthiness; she had received Italy s approaches politely but had not pledged herself to support her. Prior to the address,, Madame Aileen Johns sang two songs, "The Star" (Rogers) and "Will-o'-the-Wisp (Strauss). The accompaniments were plaved by Miss Dora Judson. At the conclusion of the address Professor Rodwell was thanked by Mrs. I'. Bauer and Mrs. Rapson 011 behalf of the members.