THE LEAGUE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18205, 16 October 1924, Page 9

THE LEAGUE.

TRIBUTES TO ITS WORK. ''VALUABLE AND IMPORTANT." (»Y CABLB--M833 ASSOCIATION—COPIBIOST* iAVSTRAI.IAX AXO X.'. CARLE ASSOCIATION.) (Received October l"»ih. 5.5 p.m.) i LONDON, October 15. Taron Adat.iii, who caused the eleventh hour which in the Protocol detat- at Geneva, speaking at a League , <>f Nations Union dinner in London, -aid he had been intimately associated with the League's -work for rive years, not cs r» politician, but as a jurist.. The viewpoint- which he submitted at, Geneva had been offered purely with the idea of completing the Arbitration ProKoo], in order not 10 leave a. loophole therein. No aiggrossivo or carping spirit was Itelund the Japanese proposals, which only aimed at perfecting; a noble scheme. Mynheer Trent, ox-Minister for Holland, Count MensdorlY, cnAustrian Ambassador in London, Senator Cippico, of Italy, Professor Set'cmdcs, of Greece, and Djemal Bey, c.f Turkey, all paid tributes to the valuable and important work of the I.o.'.giie, despite its infancy and the world-wide scepticism wluch necessarily would take time to break down. GENEVA PROTOCOL. OBJECT OF JAPANESE OBJECTION. Obi cable— press association—copTßia*r) (renter's telegrams.) PARIS, October 14. The Japanese Embassy, in a statement defending the attitude of the Japanese delegation to the League of Nations Assembly towards the Arbitration Protocol, says the wild tales that Japan's objective was the United States or certain British Dominions are purely imaginary, and entirely foreign to the delegation's motives. Tho Embassy declares that the delegation loyally intended to keep the League's Covenant free from a patent inconsistency. QUESTION IN HOUSE. PRIME MINISTER AND CABLE. (SPBCIAX TO "TEX PMMS.") WELLINGTON, October 13. The following question was put without notice to the Prime Minister by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr T. M. Wilford) in the House of Representatives to-day: Has the Prime Minister read the cable in this morning's papers from London, dated October 13th, on what I consider to be one of the most important questions for this country, and pregnant with all sorts of trouble if there is any truth in the report? The cable says that the Singapore decision was not unlike a betrayal of Australia and New Zealand (though that is not what I am specially referring to), and that the impression was deepened by allowing the Japanese to insert a clause in the Geneva Protocol compelling Australia and New Zealand to arbitrate on the subject of coloured immigration, on pain, possibly, of having the British Fleet used against them. There were, added Mr Wilford, 45 nations now in the League of Nations, and four had applied to join, making 49 in all. A lot of them were small States, and had little or no interest in Australia and New Zealand. He had asked the Prime Minister some time ago if he would cable our representative at Geneva, saying that we declined to be bound by the Japanese amendment to the Protocol, and the Prime Minister said that he was watching the matter carefully. But if this amendment was in the Protocol, Japan, after discussing the question of immigration, and producing, perhaps, nearly a "casus belli," might say, "Well, we want arbitration," and if the Geneva Protocol provided for that we would have to arbitrate on the question. It was a most serious and dangerous matter for this country. Mr Massey: We arc not going to arbitrate on the question of Japanese immigration. We simply Say that they won't come here unless wc give them permission, League of Nationa or no League of Nations, and they can do as they like. That is the law of this countrv, and it will stand. I telegraphed to Sir James Allen the views of New Zealand on the matter, and he replied that he had notified the Assembly of the League at the time that New Zealand had no intention of submitting to anything such as was proposed. It is too absurd for words. I do not know who was authorised to send such a cablegram. Mr Wilford: It is in the papers. Air Massey: But it is absolute nonsense to think that British ships or I Br ish seamen would be used to coerce us in that way. It could happen. .