FUTURE OF THE LEAGUE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17662, 24 December 1920, Page 7

FUTURE OF THE LEAGUE.

PLEA FUR A FAIR TRIAL. : MUCH GOOD ALREADY DONE. ' EMPIRE BOND STRENGTHENED By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright A. and N.Z. LONDON. Dec. 21. The Empire Parliamentary Associa- ; tion gave a luncheon to-day to the Dominion delegates who have been attending the sittings of the League of Nations. Mr. Lloyd George, who presided, proposed the toast of " The Dominions." Referring to Sir James Allen, he said that gentleman represented New Zealand, which had contributed such wonderful service during the war." Mr. Llovd George spoke of the delegates as having j returned from their great errand of attending the first parliament of the nations at Geneva. The experiment, he said, had beer launched and a good deal had been accomplished. The most conspicuous thing that had been achieved was the creation of a court of justice, and the outstanding fact was that the nations of the world had been brought together for the discussion of matters which troubled the peoples of the world. If there had been a League of Nations in 1914 there would have been no war, involving 50.000,000 casualties, and the destruction of untold wealth. Mr. Lloyd George said they could congratulate themselves on the fine part I the Empire delegates had played at Geneva- Amendments were to make the Covenant effective, and the League would not achieve its full purpose until all countries were admitted. He j was sanguine that Germany would fulfil her obligations so as to secure admission without opposition. He looked forward hopefully to America's inclusion in the League. The question of disarmament, said the Prime Minister had not made any progress. There would be, no real peace among the nations as long as the present competition for the biggest armament existed. It was no use establishing a great peace association if with the other hand the nations were increasing their competition in armaments, but. all the nations must enter the League before disarmament could be possible; otherwise the nations could not take the risk of reducing their armaments. All must march together before the League could effectively achieve its aim. Sir George E. Foster, Canadian delegate at t&e League of Nations, replied on behalf of the Dominions. He said the League had achieved reasonable results at its first assembly. The manner in which the delegates had learned something of each other was a great achievement even if nothing else had been accomplished. The strong point was that the League was founded upon the ineradicable ideal of preventing war and securing- reasonable peace for the human race. He said the League was not going did not 6V T S ° me ° f the bi S nations did not enter for a year or two. He beleved that America would yet become a prominent member of the League Sir George said that though the Covenant was not perfect the Assembly Mt that it should have a proper trial before it was amended on the spur of the moment. The League had not got all the sympathy it should. Many peo pi e had expected great results which no human power could have produced. What was wanted was more propaganda every nation showing what it could do iJEr i stronger to Hav K -knipire was