PRESERVATION OF PEACE

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 31 October 1933, Page 6

PRESERVATION OF PEACE

OBJECTIVE IN PACIFIC CONFERENCES IN CANADA. EMPIRE RELATIONSHIPS. SURVEY BY MR. W. D. STEWART. (Uy Telegraph—Presa Association. j AUCKLAND, Oct. 20. , Addressing the,,Auckland branch of the Institute of Pacific Relations, the Hon. W Dowhie. Stewart said the ttf’d Canadian conferences which he hhd attended involved no respotisibihty oh the part Of any country or Government They were largely informative and educational. The difficulty naS that dftter Stich an exchange of Views and infoi-niation it was hard for the few people forming the national delegation to impart the point of view or other nations to the whole body of their fellow countrymen when they returned home. - . ii- * The conference on Empire relations at Toronto, had emerged, from the earlier conference of .the Institute or Pacific Relations , at, Kyoto Both at Toronto and at Banff the heart .of all the many problems discussed Rad been How to secure peace. At Banff the principal subject Had been economic complications in the Pacific; at I fireMb everything liad led up to the qtfestidh how the various parts <ff the Empire cOuld ch-oporafe and conSuL iff order to fofih A cOihWoh g»«y. e?c-pf-esjsed directly or throfigli the Leigue ol Nations, toward the rest of the world in. order to prohiote ahd maintain, n each. , _ ... . “I wish to correct an erroneous impression created by ar condensedcable report of some remarks I nuiue in Canada,” said Mr. Stewart. . It uas made to appear that I had spoken disparagingly of the League of Nations, and the. president of the Auckland branch of the League of Nations Union Has written criticising my alleged statement. Nothing was ..further from my thoughts than ..to disparage the League. What,l did say was that at Toronto some delegates were inclined tc» treat the conference as if it were entirely a League of Nations conference And not primarily a conference of the members of the British Commonwealth. In fact they spoke as if the British Commonwealth had merged its existence with the League.

WORK THROUGH LEAGUE. “I said it was true that the. British Commonwealth has. the same objective of wprld peace and must work through the League, but that the primary duty of the conference was to discuss means for securing the co-operation and consolidation of a common Einpire policy in the first place, and to recognise that the League was not yet so strongly established that we. could dispeiise ivith the tower of strength of the British. Empire. Since then German} has withdrawn from the League, and there are now four great Powers outside the League—Japan, Russia, xvmeiica and Germany. Under these circumstances we have to be cautious and, while giving all support to the League, still maintain the- Commonwealth m case the League should fail. • ‘‘Another cable message suggested 1 had .been scaremongeriug at Banffas to the danger of war in the Pacific. Cablegrams are necessarily brief and -usually state the conclusions without oiving the train,of thought that leads m> to them What I pointed out was that while minds were concentrated on the peril of.-war in Europe it might be a, fact that far. more effective causes of war were operating in the Pacific. In Europe conflicts seemed to us-to be based largely on old feuds and rivalries with no economic complications as hi the East . Among these complications were congestion of population. Jack di opportunity for migration (upon which the conference was unanimously agreed), lack of opportunity for full industrialisation, and the uselessness of birth control as a remedy, seeing that .sutplus millions were already there.”

IMPORTANCE OF THE NAVY. The results of the Banff conference had been largely negative, said Mr Stewart The statements of fact had been. clear and impartial, but there had been neither time nor opportunity,,to eVdlve a solution. This conference had passed on to the meeting of statesmen and diplomatists <sf, the world at Toronto'. The emphasis had been upon seeing that co-operation and Consultation between the various parts of the Empire should he in accordance with the policv oi the League of Nations and toward jfieajce. Thte discussions revealed a clear . 'deniarkation between the ideas of "different Empire countries regarding 'their relationship to the Commonwealth. These differences were in the main geographical. ~ Oahada, which writs virtually immune from attack with the North Pole on one side and a great, powerful and friendly nation on. the other, felt the necessity for defence, especially naval defence, and co-operation to be remote and unreal indeed. Feeling on this: subject in the vdrious countries migliT be represented by colouring a map in a wradatiori of tones co-respondent to their vulnerablity to attack. New Zealahd felt herself to he in an extremely dangeious and vulnerable position and attached great importance to the British connection, and to the navy.