FOUR-POWER PACT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 150, 9 June 1933, Page 7

FOUR-POWER PACT

AIM AND PURPOSE SIR JOHN SIMON'S DESPATCH. REMOVING ERRONEOUS IMPRESSION. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 9, 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY, June 8. A despatch from Sir John Simon to the British Ambassador at Rome commenting on the aim and purpose of the Four-Power “agreement of understanding and co-operation” is included in the White Paper containing the text of that document issued to-night. The despatch states: “Througbo.it the negotiations we made it clear that the proposed agreement should in no sense be regarded as a substitute for, or as set in opposition to, the Covenant of the League. It is not a piece of rival or competing machinery but is framed for the purpose of operating within the ambit of the Covenant and is intended to aid in the maintenance of the principles for which the League stands. The methods and procedures which may fall to be studied or adopted under the agreement are strictly in accordance with the spirit of the Covenant.”

Sir John Simon also emphasises that the proposed agreement was never intended to invoke any attempt on tho part of the four Powers if not to impose their will on other States at least to establish themselves as a kind of directory in Europe. “Such a conception,” he says, “would bo entirely foreign to the principles of the Covenant, which recognises the equal right to all States just as in appropriate cases if. requires their unanimity. I have been at pains to explain the attitude of His Majesty’s Government in this matter to the representatives of other Powers, and particularly to Belgium, Poland and the Little Entente. By the form which the proposed agreement has finally assumed I am confident that any such erroneous impression will be completely eradicated. In this connection I may refer in particular to the last paragraph of the preamble to the agreement, which specifically states that the four Powers are mindful of the rights of every State, which cannot be affected without the consent of an interested party. There can, therefore, be no possible doubt that the object of the agreement is to ensure that over many years to come France, Germany, Italy and ourselves may agree in Europe upon the same policy of peace. That is an object which must be generally approved and it is entirely consistent with the aim and spirit of the League Covenant and with due respect for the rights of other Powers.”

Sir John Simon points out that the agreement which contemplates a quadrilateral examination in respect to methods of procedure is expressly stated to be without prejudice to decisions which can only be taken by the regular organs of the League of Nations.