TREATY IN CANADA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17295, 20 October 1919, Page 3

TREATY IN CANADA.

.... PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH. RATIFICATION BY SENATE. CREDIT FOR LABOUR SCHEME. [from OUR OWN coebespokdest.] VANCOUVER. Sept. 7. Resolutions for the ratification of the Versailles Peace Treaty were submitted to both Houses of the Canadian Legislature at a special session. Speaking in the House of Commons, the Primp Minister, Sir Robert Borden, described how the British Dominions had obtained a. larger status in the deliberations at Versailles in consequence of their constitutional development :—" I hops the House will realise," he said, " that the recognition and status accorded the British Dominions at the Peace Conference were not won without constant effort and firm insistence. In all these efforts the Dominions had the strong and unwavering support of the British Prime Minister and his colleagues. The constitutional structure of the British Empir© Ls imperfectly understood ,- by other ' nations, even by a nation so close)v allied in kinship, in language, and in character of its institutions as the United States of America. Such lack of com prehension need excite no surprise, because the association between the Mother Country and the great sel;'governing Dominions has been for years in a condition of development, and that development is not yet complete. The British League. 1 " The future relationship of the nations of the Empire must be determined in I accordance with the will of the Mother Country and of each Dominion in a constitutional conference to be summoned in the near future. Undoubtedly, it would be based upon equality of nationhood. Each nation must preserve unimpaired its absolute autonomy, but it must likewise have its voice as to those external rela- . tions which involve the issue of peace or f of war. " " So that the Britannic Commonwealth I is in itself a community or league of nations which may serve as an example. b 'to that world-wide League of Nations ; which was formed in Paris. On behalf I which was formed stood firmly On behalf of,my country, I stood hrmly upon this • solid ground; that in this, the greatest ► of all wars, in which the world's liberty. (the world's justice, in short, the world's destiny, were at stake. Canada had led u the democracies of both American conti- • the democracies both given inspiration, j nents. Her resolve had given inspiration, 9 her sacrifices had been conspicuous, her If effort was unabated to the end. The y same indomitable spirit which made her 2 capable of that effort and sacrifice made ■ her equally incapable of accepting at the • Peace Conference, in the League of Nak tions, or elsewhere, a status inferior to I' that accorded to nations less advanced in they- development, less amply endowed in y wealth, resources, and population, no Pi more complete in their sovereignty and far 8 less conspicuous in their sacrifice, i "I commend this treaty to the cony sideration and approval of the Canadian ri Parliament, claiming not indeed that it 8 has no imperfections, but that it does in truth embody terms consistent with St honour and justice, and that the most, 2 earnest endeavour of those who framed it 9 was to ensure th& future peace of the 9 ■ world." I J Debate in the Senate. I j The Senate took the lead in Ihe ratiti.II cation of the treaty. Approval was it moved by Sir James Lougheed, who said IS he considered the Peace Treaty and the II covenant of the League of Nations as the

greatest documents ever written. , Senator Bostock, observing that Article 10 committed Canada to provide its share of the force required to enforce the provisions of the treaty, and the decisions of the permanent council, said many persons had a feeling that Canada might hare quite enough to do in looking after her own problems and the development of her own territory and resources. He. i moved for twelve days' postponement. I Senator Bique contended that the I moment the treaty became binding upon I Great Britain it was binding upon I Canada. If statesmen of Britain felt compelled at some crisis to disregard the terms of the league, Canada might be in conflict with the Mother Country. Britain and Dominions. Senator Robertson. Minister for Labour, in an answer to the statement that it. made no difference whether Canada signed or abstained, eaid His Majesty did not see fit to ratify the treaty on behalf of the British Empire until the British Dominions had given their .-' , oval. He stated that the labour covenants embodied in the Peace Treaty formed the most important provisions of the great j document. History would record the fact that the labour provisions of the great I treaty were the work of Canada's repre- | sentatives at the conference. They would in future be regarded as the universal Magna Charta of labour. If all the countries endorsed and applied these principles, they would have achieved one of the greatest contributions to human happiness that the world had ever seen. The amendment for a _ postponement I was declared lost on division, and the three resolutions proposed by the Government were unanimously adopted. The resolutions were ratification of thepeace treatv between the allied nations and Germany, the treaty between the United States, the British Empire, France, I Italv, Japan, and Poland, and the agreement between the United States, Belgium, the British Empire. France, and Germany with respect to the military 'occupation of the Rhine lands.