LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17450, 21 April 1920, Page 8

LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

DOMINION'S POSITION. PROCEDURE EXPLAINED

STATEMENT BY SIB J. ALLEN. ' [BT TELEGttAPH.— ASSOCIATION.] CHEISTCHXTEOH. Tuesday.

A statement was made by Sir James Allen to-night with reference to the procedure to be adopted by the British Dominions in placing before the League of Nations their representations on matters coming within the, jurisdiction of the league.

•' New Zealand, in accepting the mandate for Samoa, said Sir James Allen, had dona the right and proper thing. It would not have been right to allow the Mother Country to shoulder all the troubles arising out of the readjustment of affairs under the peace treaty. In addition, New Zealand ought not to be self-centred.

In connection with the mandate over Samoa, and with respect to the civil government of the islands, when the matter was first considered it was thought that the method that should be adopted ought to be by legislation, and that the New Zealand Parliament should pass a Bill 1 containing the constitution and other | matters affecting the civil administration of Samoa. When this suggestion was 1 placed before the Imperial authorities they advised that what was sought to be attained by legislation should be effected by an Imperial Order in Council, which in turn should be made an Order in Council by the New Zealand Government. Out of this matter arose the question as to whether the British Dominions should not deal direct with the League of Nations and not through the Mother Country. Some of the British Dominions desired to deal with the league direct, and New Zealand had been asked whether it desired to do so, or to transmit its representation to the league through the Mother Country before its representations' were forwarded to the league. New Zealand favoured forwarding its representations to the league through the Mother Country. It was suggested that there should be a secretariat in London to deal with the representations from the British Dominions to the league, which would act as a sort of clearing house and co-ordinate the representations of the Dominions. Negotiations on the subject were still proceeding. Sir James Allen expressed the opinion that for the time being and for a long time to come it was desirable that the Dominions' representations to the league should be made through the proposed secretariat in London. The other procedure of independent representations by the Dominions direct to the league might lead to the Dominions separating from the Mother Country and becoming independent. Realising the absolute necessity for the component parts of the Empire to "stick together," New Zealand favoured the proposal that all representations to the League of Nations should be made i through the Mother Country. I