LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 18 September 1925, Page 5

LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

COMMITTEES GET TO WORK. VARIOUS MATTERS DISCUSSED. ,*Y CABlib:— Pilr.O-3 ASSOCIATION —COPY Ulutl’J GENEVA, Sept. IG. With the adoption this morning oi the annual ieport of the League’s secretariat the nood of unrestricted debate ended. The way is now c.eaieci ior the committees to sit daily, lasliioning resolutions which will be a salveAto those wedded to the protocol aiul lit. the same time seen to carry its spirit into the pact negotiations. A Roumanian delegate <M. D.ucaj this morning upheld tne League as a model of open diplomacy, but however open' last year’s protocol debate might nave been, it cannot be said that the present Assembly has wholly been an example of putting all the cards on the 'Table. ft has largely . been a oattle of tactics. Many small European countries couid not afford to discard the opinion oi Britain, whom they regard as theii protector. let they still look tc France as an exponent of their aspirations, so the debate took the middle coarse, and it is not a n exaggeration to say the chief aim of the Assembly is -'to save the face of last year’s gathering. This spirit has been carried into the committees, where a series of motions is now discussed, designed to reaffirm the ideals oi arbitration, security, and a reduction of armaments.

. Tne general belief is that the committees will submit to the Assembly next week a crop of inocuous recommendations, the most direct of which may record satisfaction that the pact -negotiations are conforming with the spirit of the League’s covenant, though tgere is still u belief that something concrete may emerge in the matter of international arbitration. Chili submitted a new idea of convening a conference of press experts to devise a scheme for the more rapid and cheaper dissemination of League news, in order to influence the world’s mentality'. The report of the economic committee, on which Mr. Campion represented Australia, has been issued, hut it is harmless from Australia’s point of view, because the recommendations are modifications of the unpalatable trade prohibitions and restrictions. It omits the ordinary tariff arrangements. The latest incident in the undercurrent of migration discussion occurred when some Scandinavian delegates approached the Australians and urged that their Nordic nationals would be glad to migrate to Australia., but they did not press the point when they learned that the desired financial assistance could not be considered. There is a paragraph in the annual report of the League of Nations’ societies’ congress, recommending the League Labour Conference in 1926 to give attention to the international control of migration, including the coordination of laws and the protection of immigrants.

Airs. Mackinnon, who is a member of the committee of child welfare, supported the Duchess of Atholl’s request that other countries should state their experience of the effect of the cinema uuon children, also what they thought was necessary to improve children’s films. Airs. Alackinnon said the question was of absorbing interest in Australia, where some children went to the cinema twice weekly. Mr. Swinburne was instrumental in having any proposed health investigation first examined on its merits by the health committee instead of being remitted direct to health organisations, with consequent heavy expenditure, whether justified or not. Al. Loucheur explains that the French motion to the economic conference will certainly include . tariffs, but France asks that questions oi Allied debts and migration lie not placed on the agenda.