Evening Post. THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1921. THE OTHER MR. HUGHES

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 48, 25 August 1921, Page 6

Evening Post. THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1921. THE OTHER MR. HUGHES

" The glittering social and political success "„. scored by Mr. Hughes during his stay in England has been somewhat marred by the unfortunate little tiff with the League of Nations* with which it has concluded. When, for good or for evil, the Peace Conference gave the Dominions the status of independent nations, first at 1 the Conference itself and afterwards in the League of Nations, there was nobody to whom the new dignity was more congenial or to whom it supplied more welcome opportunities than to Mr Hughes. Had he not been fulminating against the British .Government just before for the autocratic fashion in which it had set about the preparations for the Conference and cut and dried its proposals without so much as a "by your leave" to the Dominions ? And having quite unexpectedly been given a seat at the Peace table along with the other Dominion Premiers, did not Mr. Hughes make himself the enfant terrible of the Conference, and seriously aggravate the difficulties of the British delegation "by his aggressive hostility to Japan, by his disclosures to the Press of confidential business which was not proceeding as he desired, and doubtless in other ways which did not attain equal publicity 1 And when the mandates were ready to issue, did not Mr. Hughes insist that there was no authority in Windsor or Downing Street, or any other part of the British Empire, that was competent to receive Australia's mandate and pass it on, "and that it was beneath the dignity of Australia as an independent'nation to deal with anybody but the League of, Nations direct!

We gladly recognise that at the Imperial Conference. Mr. Hughes has played a 'leading part, and that this would have been impossible if Mr. Hughes the enfant terrible had not given place to Mr. Hughes the statesman. But the obligations of Mr. Hughes and Australia to the League of Nations still remain as they were. The dignity which it conferred is still intact, and Mr. Hughes continues to exploit to the full the incidental opportunities. It is therefore unfortunate that his last words before leaving England should have aired a grievance againsb the League of Nations in a fashion calculated to make the judicious grieve and the cynics smile), and that his last recorded official act should- admit of the construction that he is resenting this grievance in a very petty V/ay. "It is v flagrantly unfair," says'Mr J Hughes, "that Australia with five millions of people should contribute the same amount as Britain with forty-five minions." It may be flagrantly unfair, but it is in the bond, and the bond is duly signed and sealed,' " For the Commonwealth of Australia, By the Right Honourable William Morris Hughes, Attorney-General and Prime Minister," and another. Having duly executed the document,, an Attorney-General is surely the last person in the world who can be heard to say that he did not know Ivhat it meant. Instead of being cowed by .-his. indignation other member's of the League are more likely to smile. They may even be tempted to reply with Shylock: ' : * Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond _ . Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud. y

Mr. Hughes, of course, does not deny that the injustice of which he complains is the direct result of the Covenant which he signed on Australia's behalf. " The expenses of the Secretariat," says Article 6, " shall be borne by the members of the League in accordance with the apportionment of >the expenses of the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union." It is im : possible to rail that clause out of the. Covenant, but Mr. Hughes makes v valiant attempt to divest himself of the responsibility for signing it by the following explana tion:

He admitted that Australia had agreed to the terms of membership at the formal--tion of the League, but it had not been anticipated that the terms would be interpreted to mean equality of the contributions of Britain and Australia, irrespective of population and financial resoiirces.' It was impossible to allow this injustice to continue. '

Why the clause should have been taken by Mr. Hughes or ariybody else to mean anything but what it says is a riddle upon which his professional subtlety fails, to supply the

lay mind . with any light. He was certainly very much to blame if, seeing that the natural construction of/the clause would work the serious injustice of which he now complains, he took no steps either to amend it or to effect some understanding for modifying its operation. Mr. Hughes is also to blame now for asserting so pugnaciously a grievance which can only be remedied by the goodwill of the other parties to the contract.

'It may be that it is really not the League' of Nations but Great Britain that Mr. Hughes regards as the real oppressor. If so, his indiscretion is still more deplorable. With a wonderful complaisance, Britain admitted the daughter States to an independent status on a;i international tribunal, though well aware that she would herself have to shoulder the chief responsibility for any of their adventures in foreign policy. To his great credit, Mr. Hughes has sought to rectify this gross injustice fco Great JBritain, yet while \it stands he makes the welkin ring with a countergrievance which is absolutely trivial in comparison. No doubt, population or wealth would make a fairer, basis than the Postal Union assessment for the apportionment of the League's office expenses, but with what show of decency can the Dominions ask for it while they refuse to apply the same principle to the naval defence of the Empire 1 While they leave Britain to "supply the Empire with its navy and to bear the whole cost of Palestine and Mesopotamia, the Dominions should beware 1 of accentuating the injustice and making themselves ridiculous by exaggerating any petty grievances of their own. Let them not imitate the youth who has prematurely claimed the boots of manhood and gloried in their squeak, but is furious if he is asked to pay for them or even for the blacking. Whatever our grievances may be, let us observe a due sense of proportion and honour , the calls of courtesy and self-respect. Our claims to better treatment will certainly not be advanced by strong language, nor by sending a rubber stamp to represent us at Geneva, or even as an Australian Senator" suggests "an office boy or messenger from the High Commissioner's Office."