PACIFIC PROBLEMS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 34, 9 February 1926, Page 3

PACIFIC PROBLEMS

IMPORTANT DISCUSSIONS

fV£CENT CONFERENCE

THE LEAGUE AND A PACIFIC . PACT.

No important international gathering in the mid-Pacific could occur without some discussion of the perplexing problem of international co-operation in this area. Important discussions on this problem took place not only in the Institute of Pacific Relations, but at public and private meetings convened by the Pan-Pacific Union in connection with the two conferences which it is proposing to call in 1927 (writes H. Duncan Hall in the "Manchester Guardian"). These are (1) a conference on International Co-operation in the Pacific, its machinery and objects, to' which the League of Nations societies of the Pacific are being invited; and (2) a Pan-Pacific Legal Conference. ,

"VJX;ke' American group were careful to make clear that America's formal entry into the League was dead as fc political issue, but they pointed out that the policy of isolation has been an Atlantic policy, not a Pacific policy. By the enunciation of the open-door principle in China and by the Washington Conference treaties America was committed to a policy of international co-operation in the Pacific. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS. It was agreed that the first step should be the establishment of machinery for the peaceful settlement of international disputes in the Pacific. The League of Nations and the ■ International Labour Organisation are functioning to a limited degree in this area. But their work is crippled to a large extent by the absence of the United States. International conventions drawn up by the League or by the International , Labour Organisation might be adhered to by UJ3.A. without her formal entry into these bodies.t Even if this course were adopted there would still remain the problem of dealing with political issues in the Pacific and of settling disputes in which America is directly involved. Most of the leading Americans present at the Institute, and others in Hawaii, agreed that America is too much "divided in her own soul" to join the League of Nations. But they expressed the opinion that she may not look with disfavour upon a further extension of the principle of- international co-operation in the Pacific in the direction of a Pacific Pact for the peaceful settlement of international disputes. '

The Four-Power Pact Treaty of the" Washington Conference helps to stabilise the Pacific by pledging the signatories to respect each other's rights in relation to their insular possessions and insular dominions. But beyond a very vague clause in the Far Eastern Treaty* with regard to disputes arising out of. the application of that treaty to China, the Washington treaties do not deal with disputes relating to mainlands. Nor do they provide for any continuous conference system, which by developing peace might prevent disputes occurring. . , SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES. One other contribution which the United States has made to the peace of the Pacific deserves more attention than has been given it. I refer, to the so-called "Treaties for the Advancement of Peace" made by the United States in 1913 onwards with 21. other States. These treaties provide for the reference of all disputes which fail, of diplomatic settlement to a permanent commission of investigation, appointed under the terms of the treaty, for report on the facts of the dispute. The United States has a ring of such treaties around the Pacific, with a gap in the north—Japan. Japan was invited to. negotiate a treaty, but nothing came of the proposal for reasons that, so far as I know, have not yet been made, public. If this gap could be filled up, the Pacific would then be covered by provisions for the peaceful settlement of disputes, either under the Covenant of the League or under these treaties for the advancement of peace between the. United States and each of the Pacific countries. The alternative method of securing the essential object might be the generalisation of the principle of these treaties into a general Pacific Pact, taking the form of a treaty signed by each one of the Pacific Mates. An important precedent for such a pact is to be found in the convention—precisely along these linessigned by the American Republics at the Santiago Conference of the PanAmencan Union in 1923. The possibility of a development of this kind was raised at an important informal meeting of the Institute by the leaders 01 tne Japanese and of the American groups. It was agreed at the meeting that such a development would be admirable if it could be secured. INTEENATIONAL CO-OPEEATION. Another matter received a good deal of attention in the discussions at Honolulu. This was the possibility that there might exist in the Pacific i needs (other than those relating to the settlement of political disputes) which might best be met by local group action in this area. The Pan-Ameri-can Union , promotes co-operation in matters relating mainly to the American Continents. The conferences of the Pan-Pacific Union have covered some of the possibilities of similar group action in the Pacific. Some of the matters which have been explored by the, Union are the conservation and proper utilisation of food, fur and other value-producing marine animals and fish; the gathering and dissemination of knowledge relating to 'the spread of plant and animal pest diseases and the' elaboration of measures of prevention; uniformity in plant and quarantine regulations. How Ttv I?. p°ssible *t0 regulate matters of thisi kind as apart from their world regulation is a problem which needs a great deal of further exploration. The Institute of Pacific Relations is » centre in the Pacific which makes pos- ! svtac^to ebiir ion of thh an*

. A very downright expression of opin. wn regardmg the qualifications of Maori clergy appears in the February e. r -a* N the "Church S(Christchurch). "The <w>,>vL ££«* £«£•' .representing, W<f pTBiune, official opinion in the diocese where the Maoris most do congregate! and wherein is the area of the new dorw *M ' BUg?BSts that the defernf «, the appointment of the election of the bishop was due to a desire of the Maoris for a Maori rather than a pakeha. This we believe to be a fact In view of the problems to be faced f^r 6 n7^ lSh°£ and that 'the "hole future of the Maori Church is 'at stake,' the 'Gazette' avers that 'ther« •is certainly no Maori priest who has the breadth of knowledge, sufficiency of education, and the requisite organising ability to carry out successfully a task of such importance and magnitude. Moreover we do not believe the bishops . . .would for a moment consider the nomination ... of anyone in whose ability and practical wisdom they had not the fullest confidence.' The 'Gazette' 'admits that the qualifications are possessed by 'very few even of the pakeha clergy.'?