LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 209, 18 August 1927, Page 6

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

CHARGE AGAINST FOREIGN MINISTERS. CONFERRING OUTSIDE. London, August 17. A controversy is raging in Paris as a sequel to M. de Jouvenel's intimation that he did not wish again to be a member of the French delegation to Geneva. The most important count in his indictment was the habit of the Foreign Ministers of the Great Powers, while at Geneva, conferring outside the League and allegedly shelving important issues or preventing their discussion, either bv the Council or the Assembly M. de Jouvenel’s opponents, on the contrary, ascribe his resignation to some petty cause, such as jealousy of M. Boncour. whom M. Briand latterly encouraged to lea- 1 the French delegation when the Minister himself was absent. The “Daily Telegraph’s” diplomatic correspondent expresses the opinion that repercussions are probable in September. Representatives of the smaller Powers are likelv to raise the whole question on the revival of the British proposal to reduce the meetings of the Council to three, instead of four, per venr. Critics point out that when the Great Powers were represented by independent statesmen such as Lord Balfour, M. Leon Bourgeois, and Signor Tittoni. far more numerous and important issues were settled than at present, while the League commanded greater prestige. It is argued that the League, between 1920 and 1925. did find some firstclass solutions of grave questions, whereas the Council of Foreign Ministers hitherto has seldom done more than shelve subjects brought up for discussion. —(A and N.I)