KILLING THE PROTOCOL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 14 March 1925, Page 5

KILLING THE PROTOCOL.

THE DOMINIONS’ PART. NEWSPAPER COMMENT. 3Y CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION COPYRIGHT. LONDON, March 13. A survey o-f newspaper coniinenrt indicates the fullest recognition both her© and on the- Continent of the part p-layed by the Dominions in killing the protocol. Mr. dmni.ber 1 anl s own allusions, supplemented in many quarters, emphasise- the Empire’s unity ami the Dominions’ share in Eimpire policy.. How deeply the fact lias sunk into the public mi.nd is shown .significantly, if with grim humour, by the protocol’s funeral card drawn by the League’s cartoonist, Roth, and displayed in the lobby of the League lvall, but removed lat-br by order of the authorities, in which Mr. Chamberlain is! portrayed as the gravedigger and the British. Dominions as the pall-bearers, with journalists as a horde of ravens croaking' “De Profund is.” Mr. Chamberlain slowly and solemnly read the statement, of which everyone present had a copy. There is general agreement, that the destructive current of philosophical doubt underlying the statement could only have emanated from Lord l Balfour’s pen." Though there was no> surprise at the British verdict, criticism so deadly had not been expected. It is agreed that the document is a nuasiterpeoe of its kind. There is no great insistence- on mere technicalities, but the veritable dissection of the protocol as a whole. Following M. Briand, Signor Scia-loja said that so far as the structure of the protocol was concerned, Italy agreed with the British view. M. Hymans averred that the time would come when ©very nation would support a. scheme based on the protocol. Mr. Chamberlain subsequently gave a reception to the British journalists. He 'confessed that he had no alternative. There was no “cut and dried” scheme available, -but he expressed the opinion- that the immediate need waS for a resumption of friendly relations between the victors- and the vanquished. ' t