PEACE BALLOT IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21534, 25 July 1935, Page 13

PEACE BALLOT IN BRITAIN

ORGANISERS MEET MINISTERS

CONTINUED SUPPORT OF LEAGUE PROMISED (lir.lTlsn OFFICIAL \7IEELES3.) (Received July 24, 7.5 p.m.) RUGBY. July 23. Mr Stanley Baldwin. Prime Minister, and Sir Samuel Heare, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, today received a deputation of the organisers of the National Declaration on Peace and Disarmament, commonly known as the Peace Ballot, in which 11,500,000 cast votes of an estimated possible of 30,000,000.

The deputation, which was led by Lord Cecil, presented the result of the voting on the six questions submitted, which varied from majorities of 13 to one in favour of support for the League of Nations to three to one in favour of the employment of military sanctions. The maiority for the total abolition of military and naval aircraft by international agreement was four to one. Lord Cecil said that (he 500 000 voluntary workers, by whose services the ballot was taken found everywhere, but especially in humble homes, an eagerness to vote, and a very intelligent appreciation of the issues.

The Dean of Chichester, the Very Rev. A. S. Duncan-Jones, emphasised the great interest the churches had taken in the national declaration. It revealed a marked development of opinion, for many who ■started with pacifist opinions had come to see that the full doctrine of the League Covenant was vital to the preservation of peace. Miss K. D. Courtney said the ballot appealed to women because it represented recognition of the value, judgment, and intelligence of the ordinary citizen, and because it enlisted the support of people of oil parties.

The Prime Minister welcomed the deputation, which, he said, would be avyare that the foreign policy of the Government was founded upon the_ league. That had been madeplain many times in declarations, and by the Government's action at Geneva, where it had taken the lead in endeavouring to secure the settlement of international disputes by peaceful means in accordance | with the covenant. He would not I discuss the questions submitted in the ballot in detail. Some of th-;m. frankly, he would wish to see nut in a different form, but he could not but be grateful for the deputation's action in coming to see him, and to know that the object of the ballot was not to criticise the Government, but to show the large volume of public opinion beh ; nd it in the efforts it was making to-day to maintain the authority of the league. Mr Baldwin concluded: "We are living in a period of very disturbed international relations, and I am glad of tne opportunity to assure you that the Government intends to persist in the nolicv it has H'herto pursued, and that the .league remains the sheet anchor of the British policy."