Nelson Evening Mail WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1926 THE ATTACK ON THE MANDATES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 29 December 1926, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1926 THE ATTACK ON THE MANDATES

THE vexed question of Mandates has been shelved for the time being by the League Council, which postponed till next session consideration of the Permanent Mandates Commission's report, and asked the Commission to reconsider in the meantime the obnoxious Questionnaire which has given, such offence to the Mandatory States. This news will give satisfaction to New Zealand and Australia where it was felt that there was a tendency for the Mandates Commission to be made fh"e tool of German and other elements which have been carrying on for some years past a movement having as its object the undermining of the prestige and good faith of the Mandatory Powers, with a view to influencing the League of Nations to revoke the mandates granted and to reissue them to Germany and other countries desirous of obtaining them. The function of the Mandates Commission, as defined by Article 22 of the League Covenant, is "to receive and examine the annual reports of the mandatories and to advise the Council (of'the League) on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates." It will be seen, therefore, that the Commis-

sion's function is merely advisory, and tbat the question of dealing with the mandates rests with the Council of the League. This is as it should be, since to.ask nations to expend large sums of money on mandated territories, and then suddenly and without sufficient cause to withdraw the mandates would be intolerable. We have shown that the Mandates Commission is merely advisory and possesses no executive power. It is not generally known that the Assembly of the League is in the same position. Yet that was the opinion of the late Woodrow Wilson, who drew up the Covenant of the League. In September, 1919, when he was carrying on his unsuccessful campaign for the ratifying of the Versailles Treaty and the League Covenant by the Congress of the U.S.A., he made the following interesting statement :

Another thing that is giving some of our fellow-countrymen pangs of some sort, pangs t>f jealousy, perhaps, is that, as they put it, Great Britain has six votes in the League and we have only one. Well, our one vote, it happens, counts just as heavily as if every one of our States was represented and we had forty-eight votes, because it happens, though these gentlemen have overlooked it, that the Assembly is not an independent voting body. Great Britain has only one re. presentative and one vote in the Council of the League of Nations, which

originates all action, and its six votes are in the Assembly, which is a debating and not an executive body, and in every matter on which tlie Assembly can vote along with, the Council it is necessary that all the nations represented in the Council should concur in the affirmative vote; so that in every vote, no matter how many vote for it in the Assembly, in order for it to become valid it is necessary

that the United States should vote ave.

Now, inasmuch as the Assembly is

a debating body, that is the place where this exposure that I have talked about to t|ie open air is to occur; it would not be wise for anybody to go into the Assembly for purposes that, will not bear exposure, because that is the great cooling process of the world, that is the great place where gases are to be burned off. I ask you, in debating the affairs of mankind, would it. have been fair to give Panama a vote, as she will have, Cuba a vote, both of them very much under tlie influence of the United States, and not give a. vote to the Dominion of Canada, in that great energetic republic in South Africa, to that place from which so many liberal ideas and liberal actions have come, that stout

little Commonwealth of Australia? We have quoted this remarkable announcement in extenso because if any one knew the character of the League it was President Wilson, and his clear statement shows that neither the Assembly nor (he Mandates Commission has any executive power, which power is vested practically in the Council. So that whatever may lie said about Mandates by the Commission or in the Assembly, decision as to what shall be done rests with the Council, and the Council ii dealing with all-important matters

must be unanimous—one vote in the Council can upset its decision. Npw the Council, by unanimous decision evidently, lias instructed the Mandates Commission to reconsider its Report and the matter of its questionable Questionnaire. That is to' the good. But, if the late President Wilson's opinion is to bo relied on, such an important matter as the cancelling of Mandates and their redistribution ran be effected only by the unanimous vote of the Council. That being so, Britain would first have to agree before any of the Mandates granted to her and to the Dominions could be interfered with. That seems to make the situation safe, for though it might bj imagined that Britain would be willing in certain circumstances to relinquish her Mandate over certain territory-, she would certainly not concur in the cancelling of Mandates held by the Dominions. All this of course is subject, to the conditions of the Mandates being complied with. It was to establish a case against the Mandatory Powers that the objectionable Questionnaire was inutituted, and it is to be noticed thai in regard to that matter the Council has called the Commission to book. So it looks very much as if the attack cm the Mandates has failed.