EMPIRE ADDRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 126, 30 May 1935, Page 8

EMPIRE ADDRESS

BRITAIN AMD PEACE

HON. W. D. STEWART'S VIEWS

(By Telegraph.) . (Special to the "Evening Post.") DUNEDIN, This Day. In an address to the Orphans Club the Hon. "W. Downie Stewart said they must have been struck in all patriotic speeches lately by the insistence with which it had been stated that Britain's ambition, her aim and main object, was the maintenance of peace throughout the world. One reason why he thought the British Empire wanted peace was more or less what might be called a selfish reason. The British Empire was what might be termed a satisfied nation. It had all the territory it wanted; it had more than it wanted. Another reason why Britain desired peace was that it had more to risk than to gain by any conflict. ■ The fact was that after all these years and attempts to procure disarmament, all nations were arming as quickly as possible. During recent years numerous pacts and treaties had been made to prevent war, but nobody had confidence in them and nobody seemed to know .what the outcome of it all would be. The hot breath of war was blowing continually across Europe, but whatever the result would be no one could deny that Britain maintained her desire to promote peace. They realised that the part Britain was playing was a very great parti indeed, and so they realised the vast importance of the Empire, not merely to themselves but to the world.