PRELIMINARY DIFFICULTIES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 13 April 1922, Page 5

PRELIMINARY DIFFICULTIES.

'] "COMMISSION GETS TO WORK,

SV SaBLE-^BESS ASSOCIATION—COPYE'/tHT GENOA, April, v. The Genoa Conference at the outset "had four serious bunkers to faeife. Firstly, px the alignment 'of the Powers. Were the victorious Allies to lace the vanquished enemies?

Secojufiy, Britain felt that if the Cannes resolutions were not acceptable it/would be useless to go on. I!he 'third was one which could not )>e foreseen. That was: "If M. Tehit«he&hi persisted in questioning the d«aoa agenda, serious results might be ■apprehended, but, so far, he has proved amenable to arguments. The fourth was also serious. Would small Powers efface themselves in order to make workable sub-committees possible? They played the game.. The removal of these dangers resulted in a more optimistic outlook. Once again Prance committed a '' faux pas.'' "When M. Tchitcherin raised the que'siion "of disarmament M. Barthou heat*clly declined to • agree to discuss it, thereby playing into Mr Lloyd George's hands. The latter quickly 'seized the situation, poured oil on the troubled waters, and .established himaelf in the.eyes of the" conference as a peacemaker.

After an exchange of politeness on Monday the first commission promptly |*t>t to, work on Tuesday. It confined its opening deliberations to the first ihree clauses of the/Cannes resolutions. ■The foremost effort of the commission is to secure peace for ten or fifteen

years. This would answer M. Tchit«herin's demand tor disarmament. The Russian and British view is that if the pact is made, disarmament will be a necessary corollary. Any sanctions, liowev-er, will be moral rather than legal, the assumption being that if any country broke the pact it would be treated as a' pariah. . There is also the economic weapon, which, with the cooperation 1 of the . League of Nations, *ould be imposed. The British representatives on the first commission are Mr Lloyd George and Lord Curzon. The Japanese do not -occupy any chairmanships, as they regard the work of the conference as relating more particularly to Europe. Seven nations, including Germany, liave two representatives on each comJnission, and the smaller nations one «ach. As the main commissions naturally will be large, they will again split np into sub-committees, on which these seven Powers have one representative each. The smaller nations -will elect four nations with one representative each. The latter, therefore, elected -Poland, Koumania, Sweden and Switzerland; X..

M. Tchitcherin's protest regarding Eoumania and Japan followed, as cabled. _ Members of the British delegation^ interviewed, expressed themselves as .satisfied with the progress' made, and the amicable relations that existr. Despite Tchitcherin's protest, all was done in the best of gorfd humour, and no irascibility was shown. As the work of the various commis||iiiß|§§y3fconsiderable magnitude it is there will be any plenary '.sessions until well after Easter. Tfee display of military force is still maintained in the Plazzo Eeale, where the commissions sit, which is being strongly guarded. Mr Lloyd George moved a motion to circulate the report of the Allied experts at the London conference. In view of its intricate character and length, Tehitcherin asked the sub-committee to adjourn until Thursday to enable the Russians to study the document. This was agreed to ~