CHALLENGED MANDATES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17754, 13 April 1921, Page 7

CHALLENGED MANDATES.

AMERICA'S CAVEAT.

SERIOUS, VIEW BY JAPAN.

ANOTHER PEACE CONFERENCE j By Teleeraph—Press Aseociation-Copyright. I (Received 11.30 p.m.) A. and N.Z. TOKIO. April 11. Japanese newspapers give great I prominence to the recent United States | Note to the Allies on the mandates question. Responsible, though unofficial, I opinion holds that another peace conference is virtually implied. The text of a Note despatched by the United States Department of State ' to Britain, .France, Japan and Italy, was made public in Washington last week. The Note declared that the fact that the United States had not ratified the Treaty of Versailles did not detract from its rights already acquired through the war. It would not be questioned that the right to dispose of the overseas possessions of Germany was acquired only through the victories of th e Allied and Associated Powers, and it was believed that there was no disposition on the part of the Allies to deny the participation of the United States in that victory. The Note concluded:—"lt is manifest that the League of Nations was without authority to bind the United States in regard to the Japanese mandate for Yap. Moreover, confirmation of the mandate and the definition of its«terms by the Council of the League of Nations in December, 1920, cannot be regarded to have efficacy with respect to the United States."