OPEN DIPLOMACY

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 15 October 1929, Page 5

OPEN DIPLOMACY

NEW SPIRIT IN WORLD.

BRITAIN AND THE SEA. SPEECH P.Y Air;. MACDONALD. (British Official AYirelcss.)

RUGBY, Oct. 10. The Rt. Hon. Ramsay MacDonald at the banquet given by the of Foreign Relations in JTcw York in referring to the suspicions regarding his conversations with President Hoover, said: — “These suspicions arise because the people who entertain t-heni have no conception of the new spirit that is making up its mind to govern and dominate the world. This is the spirit of open diplomacy, the spirit of men coming together, not for the purpose of dividing the world into alliances aud groups, but for the purpose, by their oivvn agreement, of helping the world tocome to a general agreement that will be universal and not meticulous.” Speaking of the moral disarmament between the United States and Great Britain, proclaimed in a statement issued by himself and Mr Hoover, Mr MacDonald asked could that doctrine and determination be applied. He proceeded: “The mind is furnished always with old furniture that it is difficult to turn out. You have an assumption and a fear you have inherited. For instance, in our case our navy is the very life of our nation. We have romance surrounding it, we are people of the sea, we are a small island and Europe is at our doors. “For good or ill the lines of our Empire have been thro vn all over the face of the earth. We have to import our food, and a month's blockade, effectively carried out, would starve us all. In the event of any conflict Britain's navy is Britain itself, and- the sea is our security and our safety. I hope your imagination will enable you to see the affection, the real understandable human affection, that is gathered around our ships and how hard it is to get British people to feel security if their naval arm is limited in any way whatever. I put that in front of you, not as the final word, but as a plea for understanding, patience and goodwill. The Prime Minister aclded that during the last seven days he and Mr Hoover had been trying to amalgamate I two ingredients of real creative action, and the idea of such was just and inspiring, with a practical experience that would enable them to apply that idea like practical business men. “Our dreams of peace and our conceptions of human justice and human wisdom are based upon the assumption that nations, sooner or later, must discover how their competition is to be competition of mind, competition of spirit, and competition of soul,” he said. “Public opinion in Europe today told its political leaders that it knew the risks of peace, that it knew that t.he assumption made between one nation and another that they were to conduct their affairs in sincerity and justice did lay the believing nation open to a certain amount of risk. I will take it,” declared Mr MacDonald. Mr MacDonald spent a quiet weekend in ISTew York after the strenuous time he has had. He and his party leave for Canada to-morrow morning