THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

Hokitika Guardian, 1 September 1927, Page 2

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

'Australian Press Association & Sun.) LEAGUE MEETING. LONDON, August 30. Sir Austen Chamberlain (Foreign Minister) has arrived at Paris, en route for Geneva. On arrival he had a chat with AI. Briand (French Foreign Al blister) regarding the League of Nip lions Council programme for the meeting, in which connection, as usual, they reported complete agreement. AL Briand, in the evening, gave a speech at a banquet to the Inter-Par-liamentary Union. Unusually for him, lie spoke from a manuscript. He said : “1 do not hesitate to proclaim that the German statesmen showed great courage and a real spirit of peace when they consented to the Locarno Treaty. They arc entitled to expect that we will continue that great work in solidarity with all the signatories. Al.oreover all the nations ought to he permeated with the idea that a frontier that is settled by an international convention is something sacred, and must he respected, without reservation. It is high time to realise that peace for tho civilised world is not a luxury, hut a vital necessity. The cause of pence is harder to serve than the cause of war. It comprises thankless duties and more obscene tasks, and it calls for deeds less glorious.

Reports from Berlin show that the speech of AI. Briand made cold reading in Germany, and that Herr Stresemnmi (Foreign Minister) and the German delegation to the League, departed from Berlin in an atmosphere of pessimism for Geneva.