FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10744, 15 November 1928, Page 3

FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

DOMINIONS SHOULD INTEREST THEMSELVES. “SEE THINGS IN TRUER LIGHT” Baited Press Asbu. by El. Tel. Copyright (Australian Press Association.! OTTAWA, Nov. 12. Addressing, the Canadian,Club. Sir A. Chamberlain reviewed the European conditions leading up to the Treaty of Locarno and pleaded foi the people of the British Dominions to interest themselves more in foreign affairs, so that the politics of London might represent not only the British Government but also respond to the sentiment in all constituent parts of the Empire., Outlining the feary after the war in Europe, prior to the famous meetings, he said the increase in armaments was not due to a further desire for military glory, but to a. fear which reigned in the seats of Government and in the hearts of the peasants, fie explained the rejection of the Baldwin Government of the Protocol of Geneva, negotiated by Mi’. Ramsay MacDonald, and sa'd that such an agreement would have entirely altered the character oi the League of Nations, making it an instrument for war, rather than an agency for the preservation of peace. The League would have become a super-State. infringing and over-rid-ing the rights of sovereign States, which belonged to itGreat Britain could not be indifferent to conditions on the Confluent of Europe for, in the past, disinterest had always resulted in misfortune and disaster. However, the position of Britain was still., to a certain extent, one of detachment, since the people of the Dominions were further off and saw European affairs in a truer light. “You firing the opinions or the new world to correct the errors of the old,” he said. “Thus the British Commonwealth, of Nations brings a contribution to peace of the world which no other Power can bring.”