LEAGUE’S WEAKNESS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 285, 29 August 1935, Page 6

LEAGUE’S WEAKNESS

Necessity of International

Police Force SETTLING DISPUTES Attention to what was stated to be one of the weaknesses of the League of Nations system in the settlement of international disputes was directed at the annual conference of the New Zealand League of Nations Union yesterday, when the following remit from the Timaru branch was discussed;— “That this conference of the League of Nations Union is convinced that the present constitution of the League of Nations is ineffective in securing its aims, and affirms that these can be secured only by a surrender of national sovereignty through definite commitment to the aims of the new commonwealth and equity tribunal, and an international police force.”

Mr. W. J. Scott, M.A. (Timaru), moving the remit, said both militarists and pacifists were aiming at security. There were considered to be two ways of Nations; secondly, by armaments, of nations; secondly, by armaments. Armaments could not offer security, he said, and neither could the League. The fundamental weakness of the League was the nationalistic attitude of the Powers that belonged to it. War was not ruled out by the League or the Pact of Paris. The League was composed of sovereign states each insisting on being the sole judge of its own rights in a dispute. National honour, ho said, should be equated with national selfinterest. Third Pijrty Judgment. The present system, he continued, was anarchical, and could be remedied only when all disputants were prepared to submit disputes to the arbitration of a third party judgment, and to abide by the decision. This equity tribunal would have the machinery to deal with disputes which the Court of International Justice at the present time did not have. Then there must be some means of enforcing the decisions of the equity tribunal; hence the necessity for an international police force. Mr. T. Todd (Gisborne), said the League had a missing link in its strength. War could not be abolished without the abolition of injustice, and to that end there would need to be a move to world federation.

Mr. C. McKenzie (Lower Hutt) agreed that the speakers had put their fingers on the weakness in the League of Nations.

Hon. T. Bloodworth, M.L.C. (Auckland), said the remit pointed to a defect in the machinery of the League which would have to be amended sooner or later. He moved that the remit be referred to the branches for consideration before the next annual meeting. This suggestion was agreed to by the Timaru delegates and adopted. The Rev. L. 11. Ker (Wanganui) said the question was largely of academic interest and outside the range of practical politics. The League of Nations Union functioned for practical ends. The revolution in world affairs envisaged in the remit seemed to be entirely removed from practical politics at the present stage. If such views were espoused he thought public opinion would regard the union as just a body holding fantastical opinions.