NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY" Registered for transmission through the post as a newspaper. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1925. FOREIGN POLICY ACCORD

Northern Advocate, 25 November 1925, Page 4

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY" Registered for transmission through the post as a newspaper. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1925. FOREIGN POLICY ACCORD

j When Marshal von Hindenburg wa> j clectccl President of Germany, the loud j acclaim of that nation voiced the.imj pression that as President he would j continue to be the same fire-eating ! antagonist of the Allies in internation- ! al peace-time affairs as he had been ) during the great martial struggle of | 1914-18. It came as a surprise, there- | fore, both to his own and Allied nations to find him counselling nioderat tion ami conciliation in civil negoti- | ations especially marked where the i LocarnoiHecurity Pact and membership j of the League of Xations were con- | cerned. Falling into line, tho German ; Federal Council has authorised signaj tare of the Locarno Treaty documents j by 4(5 votes to four, while at the evening of the debate upon this vital issue I in the Reichstag the German Chancel- ; lor, as we were told in yesterday's cables, pointed out advantages which i were likely to accrue to Germany as j a. sequel to signature of the Pact, j these including a seat at the Council ! of the League of Nations and the right J to colonial mandates. Although the -Nationalists of Germany are raising a hostile outcry, the evidences to which we have referred point to the conclusion that the Nationalists are a noisy minority, that they are considerably outnumbered in their own country by a sagacious majority, and that their J agitation is perhaps chiefly significant | as implying their recognition that the

treaty will do ;i groat (leal to consolidate that pence and to quench those sentiments o>f hatred and revenge on. which they are accustomed to trade. The sensation occasioned in Berlin bv the statement of a Cabinet. Minister that the .German delegates at Locarno were not authorised to initial the treaty does, not seem to be of much importance. If the German Government had really objected to its delegates initialling the treaty, it would naturally j have said .so at the time. ( To the British Dominions it is a fact | of considerable importance that the J ratification of the Treaty seems likely j to proceed smoothly and without hin- i dranee. In these circumstances, there j are no grounds for any suggestion that j the Dominions, by postponing their I own decision in the matter, are doing ! anything to hamper or impede Brit- | ain's peace-making efforts in Europe. | The Dominions are thus in a position | to consider at leisure what, . attitude j they shall take up towards the Locarno Treaty. In telling the House of Com- j mons that the liberty and freedom of j action of the Dominions and India had ! been safeguarded specifically in the j Treaty, Mr Chamberlain added that : the Government hooped to discuss the | matter at the next Imperial Confer- | ence. This seems' decidedly the best ' course that can now be adopted. It is j better that the Dominions should en- . deavour in conference with the British Government to arrive at a common policy than that any of them should ! act hastily and individually in a mat- i ter that will keep. So far as New Zea- < land is concerned, the expression of its i Prime Minister, the Hon. J. G. Coates, •. on behalf of his Government, of full j sympathy with the aims pursued by j the British Government in negotiating the Locariio Pact, may well suffice for .the time being. It is at the Imperial Conference if anywhere that the Empire can be brought into effective I agreement on a question of this kind, and happily the delay involved is not likely to do any harm even if the re- J presentatives of the Empire do not assemble for their next meeting until the latter part of next year. At the same time, the negotiations leading up to the Locarno Treaty have given clear prominence to what at a broad view must be regarded as the serious, if not dangerous, weakness of Imperial organisation where treaty-making is j concerned. Mr Chamberlain, in the course of his speech, said that 1 ' it had been impossible to confer with the ' Governments of the Dominions and India before the Locarno Conference," though these Governments were kept fully informed of everything that was done. So long as this state of affairs continues, it will be merely beating the air to talk about Imtperial unity in foreign policy. The British GovernI ment and the Governments of the Dominions must be in a position to confer, if necessary at shoi*t notice, if the ideal of an Empire speaking with a single voice in foreign policy is ever to be more than ;a.dream. It is agreed universally that voluntary co-operation is the only basis on which Britain and the Dominions can henceforth reach . unity in foreign policy. Yet th£ Dominions are doing,, hardly anything to develop the machinery that would make this co-oper-ation possible, fto long as this neglect continues, ineffective lip-service only will be paid to the ideal of unity in j Imperial foreign policy. Niew Zealand | beart its full share of the reproach J entailed. In our public administra- I

tion, the whole range of Imperial affairs, including Imperial foreign policy, is treated as a sort of unattached extra, although, in remarkable contrast, even our little Island dependencies are cured for by two separate and special Departments. In the case of the Locarno Treaty, Britain happily has been able to act with bold initiative and to give the Dominions an opportunity of considering at leisure whether to accept or reject her lead. Another emergency may arise at any time in which it will be impossible for Britain to act effectively without knowing whether she has or has not the backing of the Dominions. As matters stand, the Empire is potentially in danger of being reduced to helpless impotence in foreign policy. The position can be remedied only by such developments of the maohinery of inter-Imperial communication and consultation as will make it no longer impossible for Britain and the Dominions to confer on the eve of vital international negotiations.