LABOUR AND THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Maoriland Worker, Volume 13, Issue 36, 5 September 1923, Page 6

LABOUR AND THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

' x "Should Labour support the Ltagua of Nations Union?'' was the title of ah address dielivered at the monthly' meet-ng of the Dunedin Central Branch of the New Zealand Labour Party by Mr. P. Neilson, who answered the question in the afflrma-; tive, and then proceeded to stats thereasons why he did so. First, he believed there were many people not in the Labour ranks who were just as dssirous of seeing certain evils abolished as anyone ( and many of theee people, through having come fn personal contact wi ! h the representatives of the workers o n such an organisation, had come to form a di£feni'ht opinion of theae men. This, ths speaker maintained, would be for ultimate good, although they might agree to d-ffer on many fundamental problems of society as constituted to-day. 'The mai n poiint was th-s: they must get together and have a due respect for each other's views and opinions, however much they might differ. Thia primary object was brought about in th& Lo2gu 3 of Naf'ons Union. It was not perfect by any mlelans; but was any hing we knew of perfect? Tho Labour eohI ferenoes annually are an evdence ! that once a year they met to see each | other and discuss how the machine i was working and how to perfect it: j The League of Nations was just torn, ' and had hardly found its £00'; yet. It , had a-ccompl'shed something hi the • naturo of settling disputes, the reI r-a'.riation of prisoners of war, and itba reconstruction of Austria, which j the L'jague claimed to be its greatest ! achievement so far. It had brought I "nto existence a Pcrrn&ncnt Ccur), of j Interniat'onal Justice. There was also I a constant stream of literature com' j nig out in the form of l.ir.f-ets and j pamphlets giving very valuable inI forms!'ion on all nmnner of subjects and problems. "An insurance against war" was alone a formidable ind'etmojnt against the present methods employed and th'j awful cost ! "n human lives end material wasto. The International Labour Office was also a valuable branch of the League's activities and was destined to play a big ps,rt in the future act'vit'.-os of the movement generally. t An interesting discussion followed, iin wh3ch the speakers generally that it would no': te in the best interests of Labour to support the League as at present constituted. An air of general suspicion prevaded the meeting in the sense tha-t those who constitute the members of the League Coun.ri were those who weno primarily respons/ible for the catastrophe of 1914, and doubts were freely expressed con-cem-ng their sincerity and as to what has caused the sudden conversion. One speaker claimed that as long as war paid the financial diefcai tors of the world, war would be waged, even if they had io rde through the League of Nations. Then reference was madid to France's action in the Ruhr and to her si-iate-ment through one of her papers. "What is itihe use of larguioig? Prance and Belgium wMI not evacuate the Ruhr." Mr. Neilson, ) n reply, said the Ruhr would probably test tho League's powers and those signatories who s'gned the Covenant not to go. to w.jir till after the* League had had an opportunity of considering the oas©;Then, and only then, would they see whether these signatories .were s-inr-cer-o and whether those suspicions were justified. To back up this conhe quoted from a leading, article, under the heading "Law or War," in the May issue of "Headway,'* the oftlcial organ of the L?|ague of Ni&t-ons Union. ~