DEMOCRATIC CONTROL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 4 May 1923, Page 3

DEMOCRATIC CONTROL

ABOLITION OF SECRET DIPLOMACY. AN APPEAL TO NEW ZEALAND. . LONDON, March 3. I Little 13 probably known in New Zealand of the Union of Democratic Control, but members of the House of Representatives and of the Legislative Council will each be receiving a copy of the union's official organ, l^oreign Affairs. The original declared objects of the union have lately been re-shakped to meet the nw conditions which, have ansen. Broadly, speaking,' its object is to abolish secret diplomacy everywhere, and to secure for democracy control over foreign affairs "to convince the workers that their vital interests are threatened at every point by a. system under which the relations of one nation with another —and ther«^ fore the issues of peace and war —ar© conducted by a 3mall and narrow oligarchy, out of touch with democratic sentiment and opposed" to democratic progress." The union further seeks to persuade all men that war between civilised States is a criminal absurdity, and becomes possible only because man. kind does not yet understand that it must meet the powerful international ©rganisations which exist to promote war, with an even more powerfud international oragnisation to ensure peace; to secure the drastic reduction, and the eventual abolition, of the armaments of all Powers, and the abolition of the private armament industry everywhere; to secure the free exchange of commodities and services be. tween peoples, and against the economic imperialism which seeks to monopolise the wealth of undeveloped countries in the selfish interest of sectional groups; to make the League of Nations, if it be possible to do so, a genuine organ of international co"-ope'r&----taon and democratic representation; to Becure the revision of the Peaco" Treaties in order to remove from them those manifold injustices which' will hinder the task of international reconciliation, and sow the seeds of future wars; to oppose, and expose, the diplomatic, financial, and journalistic intrigues and the personal and imperialistic ambitions by which nations are hounded into war." A matter which has been exercising the minds of members of the Union of Democratic Control recently has been the cablegram despatched to the Dominions by Mr Lloyd George's Cabinet call- | ing for assistance, if it were necessary, in keeping the Dardanelles open. Mr E. D. Morel, M.P., editor of Foreign Affairs, it is understood, intends to put the matter before the Empire Parliamentary Association, and he has already mentioned it to the Speaker. It is thought that the Empire Parliamentary Association is in a position to deal with such a question. In the meantime, as already stated, the secretary of the Union of Democratic Control is attempting to interest the members of both Houses in New Zealand in the aims and objects of their organisation.