WAR FEARED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 235, 4 October 1937, Page 11

WAR FEARED.

NO ONE WANTS IT. -PARADOX OF EUROPE" DEXEGATI7S IMPRESSIONS. What he described as the "extraordinary paradox of Europe" was discussed by a delegate who has arrived from the All Friends' Conference held recently in Philadelphia. "The whole of Europe fears war, and no one wants it," he said. 'In Paris, Hamburg, Berlin, Geneva—wherever I went —I felt the paralysing effects of this fear, and in the midst of so much storm and stress the Friends' groups were like oases of peace. In Germany I found the Young Friends particularly eager to see the society linked up as an international society, but, of course, this is impossible at the present time."

Where there were large numbers of people who had become dissatisfied with the work of the churches there was scope for the Society of Friends. This was pointed out to delegates by the representative of France. In his country alone, he said, there were over 14,000,000 people not connected with churches. He felt that there was room for work to be done amongst them, and that if Friends were more willing to share their ideals with the rest of the world, and not so eager to hide their lights, under bushels, good work could be done.

The conference resolved to form a committee to follow on the work that had been done in the sharing of information, the distribution of literature and id?as. Several main centres for literature would in time be formed in Europe, America and the Pacific countries, the latter probably in Shanghai.