SIR AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 14 November 1928, Page 5

SIR AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN

ADDRESS TO CANADIAN CLUB

BRITAIN AND EUROPE

United Praia Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright Australian Press Association

OTTAWA, 12th November

Addressing the Canadian Club Sir Austen Chamberlain reviewed European conditions loading up to the Treaty of Locarno, and pleaded for the people of the British dominions to interest themselves in foreign affairs so that- the politics of London might represent not only the British Government hut also respond to the sentiment in all constituent parts of the Empire. Outlining fears after the war in Europe prior to the famous meetings, he said the increase in armaments was not due to further desire for military glory hut to fear, which, reigned in the hearts of Governments and in the hearts of- peasants. He explained the rejection by the Baldwin Government of (lie protocol of Geneva negotiated by Mr .Ramsay MacDonald, and said such agreement would haYe entirely altered the character of the League of Nations, making it- an instrument for war rather than an agency for the preservation of peace. Ihe League would have become a super-State infringing and overriding the rights of sovereign States which belonged to it. Great Britain could not he indifferent to conditions on the Continent of Europe, for in the past disinterest had always resulted in misfortune and disaster. However, the position of Britain was still to a certain extent one of detachment. Since the people of the Dominions were further off and saw European affairs in a truer light, “you bring opinions of the new world to correct the errors of the old. Thus the. British Commonwealth of Nations brings a contribution to the peace of the world which no other power can bring.”