"SURE TO SUCCEED"

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 123, 27 May 1930, Page 7

"SURE TO SUCCEED"

PREVENTION OF WAR

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

INFLUENCE GROWING

That the L'eaguo of Nations has achieved tangible results in the direction of preventing tho outbreak of war, and is capable of still greater efforts provided it is given Iho wholehearted support of tho ppoples of the ■world, was tho contention of His Graco Archbishop O'Shea aud other speakers in the course of' addresses delivered at tho eighth annual meeting of tho Wellington Branch of the League of Nations Union last night. Archbishop O'Shea, after expressing regret that the attendance at tho meeting, was not larger, said that while ■ there were a. faithful few the principle fought for was sure to succeed. . He traced-tho history of past endeavours to replace war by arbitration and recourse to law. The Pax Romani, docreed by the Emperor Augustine, brought about a long period of peace and a growing regard for tho law, but upon the death of Augustine•■ Europe plunged again into war. Tho,'Roman See had worked through tho centuries for peace and with great success. Grocius, the historian, had. made a strong plea for the settlement of dispute by arbitration, and William Form, of the Society of Friends, had made the same- plea. The Spanish American peoples, after many wars, had striven for arbitration, but without great success, though tho • Christ on the Andes stood as an-abiding monument to the peace that had been sworn to by certain of the South American peoples. ■ Coming nearer to the present day there were the efforts of the Hague Tribunal.. The history of such efforts ■ showed that through the centuries the nations had sought a bettor way of 'settling disputes than by-war. AVhcn .the last great war broke out there were some men who maintained their stand and demanded arbitration, ]iot~war. Outstanding among them were Pope Benedict XV. and President Wil : son. Both had suffered misrepresentation and the1 sneers of the world, but had remained steadfast. Pope Benedict - had, in fact, proposed a plan very similar to the organisation adopted for the League of Nations, and• President Wilson had very similar views, but unfortunately his country did not support him and had declined to join the League. " •, ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE LEAGUE. Already, said Archbishop O'Shea, the League of Nations had been instrumental in avoiding wars between European nations and very recently between Bolivia and Paraguay, and by. making possible the open discussion of questions between the nations had avoided' tho suspicion and mistrust which might otherwise have arisen. In medicine, and in international questions generally, tho League-had spread enlightenment, it had been instrumental in the repatriation of half :i million prisoners of war from ; Siberia aiyl Eastern Europe, had,reconstructed financially Austria and Hungary and had played a prominent part in. regard to the Locarno Treaty and tho Kellogg Pact. ' It might be said, that the League ■had done very little towards. actual disarmament, but it had done much to . educate the people to tho fallacy of tho assertion that a big war,, budget .was necessary to protect a.'country from war; and disarmament would follow upon that knowledge. It had been said that the League; of Nations tended to. coerce, small nations and left the big nations alone; even if that were true (and it was not), it was but an argument for strengthening the League in every possible way that it ' would have the power and authority to deal with the disputes of all nations. Disastrous as the past war had been, future wafs would be still more costly in treasure and in human life, but great as were the losses in treasure and in human life they were as nothing to the losses in moral fibre. No nation could engage in war without suffering that losi, and anation which had lost morale had lost its eivilsation. There was a duty upon all who were present to m- ' tercst others, "to become propagandists o further in New Zealand the work ot the League of Nations ot the World. NOT ENOUGH PROGRESS. The Bey. Dr. J. Gibb said that he had found the annual report of the branch rather dreary reading-there had een, to his mind, a lack of aggrcssive"iess, ana not enough had.bee* done,in Wellington; elsewhere in the Dominion much more had been achieved. He aerced most heartily with the concludi,7<' remarks of. Archbishop O'Shea when he urged all members to become propagandists. In a. very short space of time, he was confident, the membership of the branch could be doubled, trebled, or quadrupled. On tho whole, the prospects in\ the Dominion were good. The membership was growing, and its influence was becoming wider. The prospects-of the Minister of Education finally agreeing to the teaching of tho league's principles in the schools ■ were promising, and there was no question but that the attitude of the public as a whole had changed. No longer was the league spoken of with a sneer and regarded as an organisation of dreamers: it was regarded today as essential. . . - . "WAR ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE." To date, it was to be said that no great success had been achieved in regard to disarmament, for too many - nations were "thinking of disarmament in terms of war, not ofi, peace, but in spite of that they were justified in saying that already.the League of Nations, tho reacts, treaties, and agreements, had made it almost impossible for war to break out in Europe, and the above all-international agreements was the fact that the League had created an intense moral atmosphere through which no nation would dare to break. The British League of Nations Union had been of the very greatest value to the League of Nations, and though New ' Zealand's influence was small when compared with the great British Union, yet New Zealand's opinion added to the weight of the nations of the world. The success of the League in creating so intense an atmosphere, among the nations against war was indeed something for which to thank God and to go ahead with full confidence. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. The election of officers resulted as follows: President, Mr. W. J. M'Eldowney; vice-presidents, Mr. P. J.'O'Began, Mr. F. L. Combs, Mrs. J. Henderson; treasurer, Mr. P. J. O'Began Mrs. K. M. Evans; council, Archbishop O'Shea, Bishop Sprott, Bey. E. D. Patehett, Bey. D. Jones, Bey. Canon James, Messrs. B. H. Hooper, Harold Miller, P. Fraser, M.P., J. Thorn, B. S. Maunder, W. M. Beckett, E. A. Israel, W. P. Boilings, Mesdames J. Anderson, Moslem, J. Hannah, and D. Patterson, Misses A. Kane and A. M'Donald; auditor, Mr. D. Colquhoun. The meeting was held in tho Trades Hall, and Mr. W. J. M'Eldowney presided. Mr. M'Eldowney said that, though the attendance was smaller than had been hoped for, there were real indications that in Wellington there was a growing interest in 'the work of the league. __ l.^.^La...