THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20083, 12 November 1930, Page 15

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

HIGH COMMISSIONER'S

IMPRESSIONS.

TiifcEß liMiPQRTANf SUBJECTS. (i'ttoit ova dtrtt coaRtSSPoKCErtT.) LONDON, October 8. Sir Thomas Wilford and Lady Wilford returned from Oenovh last week iii tifrie to welcome to Loriddh the Minister and his fjarty* Mr C. Knowles (the Higii-CoinmiS&ionef's private secretary) will remain until the end of (he Assembly to represent New Zealand. He aaW has thfe Prime Minister's instructions as to iidW to vote should there be a division on the subject, 01 amendments to the (Joveiiaiu. "it was a most interesting aiid educative experience," said Bir ThtUlias, describing .his tirst iiixp'ressioiia of ulo Assembly. '"There were 225 delegates representing 64 nations gathered »h tone ruotn with a eoniiiion object* but \viili many different, ways Of arriving at the goal, i found numbers of earnest find able 111611. While .they admitted that wliat had been dene tvas far below what they had expected iii the period of the League's existence,thev were confident that these annual meetings of the League were creating a del'mit© world opinion that to go to war to settle international differences should only be the last resort when all method's which appealed to reason had failed.

"1 took part in the work of three important committees: First, there was the question of financial assistance to be given by the League Out of ItAJ Inillion gold francs to the party held not to be the aggressor in warfare by the Council ot the League. Although no restilt that could be called absolutely definite was arrived at, it was felt generally in the Assembly that it the Council of the League had power to make an offer of finaiici&l assistance to a country wrongly attacked before hostilities could be J>egun, it ttiighn have a substantial effect. "A& I had no on this point from my Government," 6i *id the High Commissioner, "T was unable to, vote, and a number of other countries fW %er@ in S fSaSitidri abstained from voting." Samoaii Mandate. The Samoaii iVltiiidate came before the Sixth Committee, and representatives of all countries holding mandates under the League were called in to make a short statement as to their countries' outlook in regard to the working of the mandate. In addressing the Committee the High Commissioner said that all three political parties, in New Zealand regarded the mandate for Samoa as a sacred trust, and he was confident that, iriveri time arid patience, Sampa would be brought into 110 less satisfactory a condition than prevailed m New Zealand and in ttie Cook Islands. The inhabitants of the. mandated territories were ethnologically ,tn tousins of that Maori section of the Polynesian-race alongside of which he, as a New Zealarider, had grd#n up. The "father" of the New Zealand Parliament to-day was in point of fact ft Maori. The progress which had thus in less than 100 years, been realised in New Zealand had within his-own lifetime been repeated in the Cook Islands, vt'here relations between aie white traders and the native communities had undergone recent remarkable improvement. In Samoa, the irtent was fetill faced with great difficulties. As would be fully. eipldined to the Permanent Mandates Commission at its, forthcoming SesSioii, much trbhble had been given by passive resistance amotag the natives. ... Referring to certain " alleged contradictions betwfcen the reports .of two successive Commissions of Enquiry sent by the New Zealand Government to Samoa, Sir Thomas pdihtied dut that any apparent discrepancies were due to differences in the terms of reference Of the two Commissions. the second Has been specifically cbfccerned with administrative questions; evidence on such topics Hftd rightly beeh excludes by tho firit Odmtni.Oßldii (is irrelevant to its taßk. He desired also to observe that tli6 ftnanfeifU burdeft Of tfhch mistakes as had occurred had fallen, not upon the Samoan people, but "P on New Zealand ratepayers. New Zealand was grateful to the Pdrin&aferlt MAhdates COinamission for its recognition of the ptroereSs that has been hi&de. She was fiillv cohScidtiS 8f the respect due to the L*eague as the source of tho mandate, ahd life vefitdrt*d td believe that the day was hot far distant when Samoa would be accounted the shining jewel amongst the mandated territories. Amendments to the Covenant. The third Coinniittee «H which the lligh Commissioner served was that dealing with the amendments to the Ctevenarit td bring it into littd with the Pact of Paris. "The amendments were many ana] varied," said Sir "ana no determiiiation had been coihe to as to the actuai form of these amendments when I left Geneva to meet my Prime Minister. Mr Forbes, after hearing my report,' definitely conveyed to the Foreign Minister our Governments views in regard t6 this. I "I pointed out to the other members of the Committee that while the Pact of Paris rested oh moral obligations, the Covenant prbVided for sanctions or penalties, and 1 whether, if .the Pact ere, brought in line with the Covenant which enforced sanctions, frliat would be the position of America who only signed the Pact in which there were no sanctions, i also tried to find out from the president of our ColnmitteCj tfhether r ® ser " vatieiiS niado by signatories to the Fact would be carried over to the Covenant if the. amendments werfe adopted, but n<j one seemed to be vUty 61ear on this point." , . , The social events during the perioa of the Assembly are really important to the League, as they enable the representatives of all natibns to meet on friendly and unofficial terms. The n yfbur nationS; said Sir ThonlaSj all it necessary to provide some social function, and there are several luncheon parties arid several ctiniier parties eac. day. This ttetf gfealslrid delegation confined itself to entertaining the British delegation to luncheon at the Carito Park Hbtel. M. TittilßSeOj the Bumanl&h delegate, was elected PtesijMitt o 'the League, and the Bumahian Govern ment held a State function to celebrate, the event, fhis was a reception which was attended by 1300 guests. _ Lady Wilford enjoyed the vjsit to Geneva and has returned to London somewhat better in health.