A SOUNDING BOARD

Evening Star, Issue 21098, 10 May 1932, Page 5

A SOUNDING BOARD

VITAL IMPORTANCE OF LEAGUE OF NATIONS [Pr.K United I’hess Association.] WELLINGTON, May 10. Speaking at tho annual meeting of the Wellington branch of the League, of Nations Union, Sir James Parr said, the League was “ in a sense the most important body in the world, it is the sounding board of world opinion. If it fails there is no hope. Tho League alone stands between us and another Armageddon, which, with the scientific weapons of war, will destroy civilisation. But the League has not failed. It has created a new collective spirit among the nations. It has existed for only twelve years, too short a time in which to judge it. How can one expect that in twelve years racial hatreds and fears existing for centuries can be eliminated. It will take time—perhaps a Jong time—but lam not without hope that the League could stop all small wars even to-day with its moral pressure and its threat of financial and economic punishment of the guilty parties. And in great wars by delaying their outbreak and by organising public opinion against the offenders it could do much to prevent the threatened struggle. . . “ The League’s humanitarian, social, and financial operations have done much in a decade to improve the world's condition, and even if it had failed to bring about a great disarmament the world cannot afford to do without it.”