LAST CHANCE?

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 28 April 1945, Page 5

LAST CHANCE?

AVOIDANCE OF DESTRUCTION WORLD A LARGE CITY MR EDEN’S APPEAL FOR UNITY San Francisco, April 27. Addressing UNCIO, alter paying a tribute to the late President Roosevelt, Mr Eden said: "It was he who named us the United Nations and we would best honour his memory by proving ourselves worthy of that proud title. Let us be clear about the purpose of this conference. We are not here to draft peace treaty terms. We are met to establish a world organisation which will help to keep the peace when victory is finally won. “Despite earlier failures of international machinery to solve disputes, a further attempt must be made and this time we must succeed. All the causes that made international machinery desirable after the last war make it inJ dispensable to-day. We have entered an age when no natural barrier, whether mountain or ocean, can guarantee security against new • weapons which science has placed at mankind’s disposal. “San Francisco is as close to Berlin as and as New York to Washington a century ago. The world to-day is one large city and our countries are its several parishes. Either we must find some means of ordering our relations with justice and fair dealing while allowing nations, great and small, full opportunity to develop their free and independent life or w£ head for another world conflict which must bring utter destruction of civilisation in its train.

“It is therefore no exaggeration to say that this may be the world’s last chance. The proposals placed before you admittedly constitute a compromise. They do not constitute an attempt by the Four Powers to dictate what form the future organisation should take. Nor are they intended to stand unchanged until the end of time. Security is not itself a final end bu( it is indispensable if we rae to make true freedom possible. In no other way can v/e hope to realise a world in which justice for nations as well as its individuals can prevail.” WARNING GIVEN Mr Eden warned against attempting too much. He pointed out the impossibility of completing a perfect scheme. The Great Powers had carried a correspondingly heavy responsibility and they should set themselves certain standards of international conduct and observe them scrupulously in all dealings with other countries. Mr Eden, after stressing the importance of two immediate tasks, political and economic, concluded: “World events of unprecedented magnitude, both in the east and the west, crowd upon us every hour. If we order our labours efficiently and work to the utmost of our strength, it should surely be possible to agree on a charter within four weeks from now. In the early days of this war I went to Egypt to greet soldiers from Australia and New Zealand ’who came to protect the Suez Canal against Mussolini’s aggression. I spoke to them of the motives inspiring them to voluriteer for this adventure and one man remained silent. I asked him what made him come. He replied: T guess there is a job of work .to be done.’ We now have a job to do if we are not to fail the unnumbered men who have died to give humanity another chance.”