LEAGUE’S LIMITED POWERS

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 19 August 1933, Page 11

LEAGUE’S LIMITED POWERS

“'J'HEKE is inneli to be said for the! view that its effedtivcmess would | be increased by the formation of some I form of international force which could | be us'eld against an aggressor State as police are used to compel individual j obedience to the law’,’’ writes Viscount Cecil, in. the “New Commonwealth,” j about .the League of Nation's. “My personal view is, however, that, tire ere- | aition of any such force before a real measure of international disarmament lias been achieved bristles with difficulties. "The whole effectiveness of a police force depends on its ability to compel instant obedience;' if all the citizens of a country were in the habit of carrying rifles and revolvers, the police would require .tanks and machine guns to make an arrest. As long tvs the nations are highly armed as at pr esc nit, the cost alone of equipping and maintaining a sufficiently powerful force to ]

Safeguarding Peace of the World

compel a rdca.lcitra.nit Sta.to to honour its obligations would be prohibitive. But if the national war forces are first reduced substantially, an international police force immediately becomes 1 a; j practical proposition*. Particularly is I this so in the case of the most modern jaii-d most, deadly of all forms of war. ! that iui the air. I hope and believe that j in a comparatively short space of time we shall see the complete abolition of ail forms of military and naval aircraft in national ownership, together with a strict international control of civil machines to prevent their adaptation for war purposes. If 'that should happen I am inclined to think that a small but efficient force of lighting aeroplanes at the disposal off the League, which could only be used 1 iii the event of a clear ease off aggression being proved against a member State, might well prove a valuable addition to the 'safeguards of organised world peace.”