SERIOUS VIEW.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 4575, 28 April 1922, Page 2

SERIOUS VIEW.

OF EUROPEAN SITUATION. TAKEN BY LLOYD GEORGE. IF NO PEACE PACT, HE FORESEES WAR. CALLS UPON U.S.A, TO HELP. ißy Electric . Telegram’ll.—Copyri ghtj (Aust.-N.Z. Cable Association.) (Receivetl April 28, 9 a.m.) Genoa, April 27. Mr Lloyd George, addressing a group of journalists, took a most serious view of the European situation. They were sitting on the edge of a volcano, ho said; and unless Genoa succeeded, probably 7 he -and the other 'grey-headed persons present would se6 another storm break out. The clouds on the horizon were growing bigger daily. Europe might be again devastated. He appealed to America, who would, lie warned her, be forced, wil-ly-nilly, to interest herself in. Europe for the maintenance of peace. The Genoa Conference would fail unless the Peace Pact was arced to. A GREAT SPEECH.

LLOYD GEORGE AS PROPHET. (Received April 28, 9.20 a.m.) London, April 27. The Australian Press Association’s correspondent at Genoa says Sir Lloyd George’s speech to the journalists was most impressive. He said the conference was the greatest and niost important ever held. Whether it succeeds or fails it was bound to have great and lasting effect upon*"the future of the Continent^. and would affect other Continents to a greater degree than any other conference in the history of the world. The question whether carnage shall cease in Europe depends oif this conference. Some people.! were impatient, because solutions were not found in a dag.o' fortnight. The Washington Conference took three months, and it was worth every hour of it. The whet: frontiers of Eastern Europe, from too Baltic to the Black Sea, were unsettled. Every one of—them involves the possibility of a terrible conflict. The racial lava of Eastern Europe was boiling, with possibilities of conflicts which would draw in the whole of Europe, and may even involve distant America. Then you have Russia and Germany semi-antagonistic to the rest of Europe. Anybody who imagines you can permanently keep dow 7 n those two great peoples, representing twothirds of the people of Europe, must either be blind or blinkered as to its possibility . The insanity of the RussoGerman Agreement is a revelation to some people. “I ventured to give a warning a long time ago as to what was inevitable unless there was a good understanding. When hungry Russia is equipped by angry Germany, how long will it be ’before Em rope is devastated if that should represent the policy of any European combination? For the moment wo belong to tho dominant and triumphant group. But these things do not last for ever. If our victory degenerates into oppression, if it is tinctured and tainted by -selfish interests, if we have abused the triumph God placed in our hands, then vengeance • will inevitably follow, just' as it fol--1 lowed in tho wake of the act by Germany which outraged the world’s moral sense.

STORMS GATHERING. -> • DANGER HANGS OVER EUROPE. (Received April 28, 9.50 a.m.) London, April 26. “We must show restraint in the hour of triumph, otherwise' Europe will again welter in blood within the --- lifetime of those whose hair is now grey. That is why I wrought to make Genoa a success. Already storms are gathering over Europe. They may not break immediately, but they will - inevitably unless the atmosphere can be cleared. lam amazed at the people who ignore these portentious facts and concentrate on selfish trivialities, ; “I WISH AMERICA WERE HERE”-. “Frankly, I wish America were here. Her very aloofness from these European problems would give her tho right to speak with, .authority. Her aid would have been invaluable, as her voice would have been the voice of peace; conciliation, and goodwill, but it is too' late. America is not here, and Europe must do its best to solvo the problems in its .own way. APPEAL TO THE PRESS.. Mr- Lloyd George, appealed to the press of both countries to do their utmost to help the Conference to a successful -issuo.