HASTINGS R.S.A. VOTES AGAINST WAGING OF WAR

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 146, 5 June 1936, Page 6

HASTINGS R.S.A. VOTES AGAINST WAGING OF WAR

Unanimous Motion

LEAGUE BACKING International Organisation Aimed At LESSON OF 1914-1918 A resolution having as it ultimate abject the banding together of ex-servicemen throughout the world for the purpose of presenting a united front against the waging of war was passed unanimously, and to the accompaniment of expressions of considerable enthusiasm, by the Hastings Returned SoldierV Association at its quarterly re-union last evening. The mover of the resolution was Mr V, L. Westerman, and the seconder, Mr P. J. Priest, the newlyelected president of the Association. Mr Westerman was supported in his remarks by Mr A. D. Morrison.

la ad arresting speech ' supporting £ resolution, Mr Westerman said that ight sound rather ambitious to supthat so great a movement could fee effectually established by such small beginnings, but there were few great movements that had not so begun. Mr Morrison, in his remarks, spoke on the same point, and said that only a handful of men had undertaken the task of establishing the Christian religion in the world. The resolution reads as follows, and Ss to be forwarded to the Dominion Jixecutivc of the U.S.A.—, ♦'The members of the Hastings Eeturned Soldiers’ Association are unanimously of the opinion that the time is now opportune in the evolution of the post-war world for the establishment of an intra-Im-perial and ultimately of an international organisation of ex-service men, strong in membership and unanimous in purpose, for the safeguarding of the peace of the world to the end that the sacrifices of those who gave or who offered their lives for the cause of pe»ce •nd freedom should gain and retain the fullest recognition of their several Governments and that their united voice should be heard in the Assembly of the League of Nations in a non-political and advisory capacity.” , 'WORSE THAN IN 1914. In the parliament of the nations and the parliament of the world, said Mr Westerman, in speaking in support of his motion, circumstances during the last 12 months had so developed as to cause men to ask themselves what was going to happen to the world. The memories of the returned soldiers present would hark back to the early morning of November 11, 1918, when the victorious British Army again entered the city of Mons. It was not merely chance or fortuitous circumstances, said Mr Westerman, that brought about that repetition of history.

Since then, great changes had come to pass, and a new world had been born since that fateful date. The League of Nations had been founded for the promotion of peace and of the industrial welfare of the peoples of the world. Locarno, establishing the principle of collective security, had followed, and then Stresa, which reaffirmed those principles.

Also since Stresa Mussolini had engaged in the conquest of Abyssinia, and Hitler had reoccupied the Rhine. It meant that the European political situation was even worse than in 1914. “We as members of the Returned Soldiers’ Association,” Mr Westerman added, “have an opportunity as never before to set in motion an idea that will weld and unify ex-servicemen the world over, no matter on which side they fought.” All ex-servicemen fought for what they believed to be the principles of freedom and peace, and to-day they were the trustees of the principles for which they fought. It was impossible to say what was going to happen in the next few months, and the world would anxiously await the meeting of the League, and most probably of the full League Assembly, on June 10.

The world needed a new cause to strive for, and he believed that the cause mentioned in his motion would provide great encouragement for the enlistment of ex-servicemen the wori-J over. The League was on trial, and it needed some backing. * Dr. G. H. Scholefield, Parliamentary Librarian, Mr Westerman added, had •ccently written to him: ‘‘l am afraid it is impossible not to agree with everything you say about the state of the world at present. I should think ‘here must be very general disappointment in every country that honestly sought a basis of disarmament.” ♦‘OUGHT TO DO MORE.” “Just recently,” Mr Westerman Stntuiued, “I have had most encourag-

ing confirmation of this viewpoint, among others, from a German ex-sol-dier who, when he read my letter recently published in the ‘‘Tribune,” immediately purchased a bulk supply of the paper, which he despatched to representative people in Germany through the Consulate in Wellington.” Mr Morrison, speaking to the motion, said that the returned soldiers, if they were worth their salt, would set themselves to do something more than to meet at occasional social gatherings, useful as those gatherings were. ‘‘We know,” he said, ‘‘what war is, and the rising generation does not. We know the horrors just as we know the camaraderie and goodfellowship, which made the soldiering-life bearable. But we ought to be doing more than merely gather together for social evenings. ONE LITTLE SPARK NEEDED, ‘‘Though this association is small when you consider the millions of other ex-servicemen, still we can do something useful. It fakes a very small spark to start an explosion. If we have the right spirit and the right inspiration, there is no knowing where thts movement may end.” | The organisation must become international, Mr Morrison added, and it must eventually obtain representation on the Council of the League of Nations. The destiny of the world, so far as war was concerned, could be made to depend on those who had tasted the bitterness and the horrors of war, rather than on those who had no taste of it at all. I “We have the standing and the power and the right to send out this resolution,” said Mr Morrison, “and to have a voice as the ex-fighters of the world. We don’t want the younger generation to go through what we went through, and there need be no reason why they should, so long as the exservicemen of the world stand -together.” ‘