FUTURE OF LEAGUE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 143, 18 June 1937, Page 13

FUTURE OF LEAGUE

CONFERENCE TALKS

DISILLUSIONING EXPOSE

ifrom "The Post's*' Representative.) LONDON, May 26.

The general trend of the discussions of the Imperial Conference ' have been followed with great interest in London, and although only the broad lines upon which they are proceeding can be revealed by announcements at present, these, together with information gleaned by political and diplomatic correspondents, are followed closely every day. According to the "Daily Telegraph" correspondent, the remarks of Mr. M. J. Savage, New Zealand Prime Minister, upon the subject of Imperial defence were awaited with "some interest because he is head of a Socialist Government."

According to the diplomatic correspondent of the "Morning Post," the ■future of the League of Nations has been one of the chief subjects of discussion in the Imperial Conference. "Some of tlie delegates came to the Conference with the idea that the Covenant of the League might still provide the basis for a common policy within the Empire. Mr. Eden's expose of the international situation has been very disillusioning on this point,'' he says, "The information gathered by the British Government during tlie Abyssinian episode is far more damning in regard to the League than anything that has been published. Although in the matter of foreign policy there are no secrets which the Government keeps from the Governments of the Dominions, a fuller picture can naturally be given in a conference than through the normal channels of communication. • The discussions in London have thus provided the Dominion Ministers with their first opportunity of ascertaining the facts at first hand. The views of some of them on -what the League is capable of achieving have been considerably modified as a. result.

"There is, for instance, a much deeper realisation among the delegates than there was before the Conference opened of the fallacies in 'collective security.' The failure of the attempt to organise universal action" on behalf of Abyssinia has shown that no country is prepared to take risks for the League unless its own vital interests are threatened. This leads to certain conclusions which the Imperial Conference has not been slow to adopt.

"One of them is the need for replacing the universal principle represented at Geneva by something more practical. The British Government has already declared its preference for regional pacts in so far as Europe is concerned, and this system, which tends to limit British commitments on the Continent, has on the whole-met ■with approval ta the Conference. Its application to the other parts of the Empire is less easy, as the reception of the Pacific Pact nroDosals has shown. The tendency of the Dominions, I believe, will be to seek their security through mutual help within the Empire rather than by arrangements outside." • \.

IMPORTANT PROBLEM,

"The Empire Premiers and Defence Ministers are in agreement with service opinion in this country that the problem of military supplies, both in peace and in war, is one of the most Important now facing them," is the comment of the "Daily Telegraph.'' "Points to bo discussed by the committee include: The building of Empire arms factories in the Dominions, safe from air attack and able to- send supplies to Britain; and a policy to ensure that the 'working parts' of the Imperial defence machine are, as fails possible, interchangeable. "The immediate task of the committee is to ascertain how far individual Dominions are able to satisfy their own requirements of defence equipment. In the past tho United Kingdom has been regarded as the arsenal of the Empire. Recent developments