WORK OF THE LEAGUE

Evening Post, Issue 86, 8 October 1936, Page 10

WORK OF THE LEAGUE

PROPAGANDA IN

SCHOOLS

GOVERNMENT'S IDEALS

A request that the Government ihould take steps to develop a greater appreciation of the work of the League of Nations was made, to the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) by a deputation from the League of Nations Union today. The deputation wais anxious that the question should be taken up more widely in the schools.

The deputation was introduced by Mr. R. A. Wright, M.P.

; Professor F. L. W. Wood, on behalf of- the. deputation, said that the visit arose out of the recent conference of the unions. Many of the matters they intended to take up had already been dealt with in the Government's recent memorandum, but he had three requests to urge upon the Government. The first was that it should notify as many as possible of the conventions of the International Labour Office, in the interests of: the workers not only in New Zealand but in othec parts of the world. Then so far as the Mandated Territory of /Samoa was concerned, it was urged that the administrative officers should be given the same training as that given to members of .the-Colonial Service. Professor Wood, also asked that the shortwave broadcasts from Geneva should be relayed through New Zealand main stations. That was frequently done ntfw, but it was asked that it should be made general.

Professor Wood also suggested that the Government should assist in the production and circulation in the schools of a booklet dealing with the League of Nations. Reference should foe also made to the League in the schools on Armistice Day and in the school journals. , The Prime Minister said he appreciated very much the reference made toy the League of Nations Union conference to the memorandum submitted to the League of Nations by the New Zealand Government. There might be some people who thought that New Zealand's action was an impertinence, but New Zealand was a small country ■with big ideas, and it was better to be that than a big country with no ideas. There could be no greater accomplishment than peace, and certainly no greater objective. So far as the decisions of. the International Labour Office were concerned, the deputation could rest assured that New Zealand would do nothing less than was provided for in the conventions. Of course, if the 1.L.0. was living in the middle ages, New Zealand would have to be counted as a rebel, but he did not think that possibility would arise. In the view of his Government the League of Nations was the only hope for world peace and for planning in industry. When New Zealand sent delegates to Geneva it did so because it was in earnest about the whole matter. The action of the present High Commissioner provided some indication of the Government's earnestness. He was not going to apologise to any-" che for the attitude adopted by the Dominion's representative at the League. Mr. Jordan ■ went to Geneva with a definite plan, and with a definite- policy laid down by the Government.

In reference to broadcasting the Prime Minister said that the importance of receiving reports of the League's activities over the air could not.be overlooked. It was not a question of money, and anything the Government could do to facilitate such broadcasts' would be done.'

He agreed that it would be a splenHid idea to train men for administrative positions in Samoa, as' it was necessary to have men who understood the native psychology. The other points he would be glad to place before the Minister of Education (the Hon. P. Fraser). He saw no reasons why the .proposals should not be adopted.