PACIFICATION OF EUROPE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18762, 16 July 1924, Page 9

PACIFICATION OF EUROPE.

-.. » —; (ALLIES' OPPORTUNITY. EVE OF THE CONFERENCE. GERMANY'S OBLIGATIONS. SECURITY FOR HER CREDITORS. fMACDONALD'S POLICY STATED. By TelegTaph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received 11.5 p.m.) Center- LONDON, July 14. When the debate on the Foreign Office estimate was resumed to-day in the House of Commons, carefully worded (Speeches were made by the Liberal leader, Mr. H. H. Asquith, and the leader of the Conservatives, Mr. Stanley Baldwin. They showed an evident desire not to embarrass the Government on the eve of the inter-Allied Conference. Mr, Asquith urged that any assurance fa regard to security given to France ought to be part of Britain's general undertaking under the League of Nations' covenant. Secondly, he said,, similar security should be offered to Germany, Thirdly, Germany must be admitted to membership of tho League. He emphasised tbe desirability of consulting the Empire and carrying it with Britain in order to achieve the object of tho League pi Nations. ; Mr. Baldwin expressed his sympathy witla Mr. Asquith's arguments. Austen Chamberlain's Advice. Mr. Austen Chamberlain. Conservative member for Birmingham West, criticised TTbat he described as tho errors of the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald. He said he did so with a view to their avoidance in future. Mr. Chamberlain outlined a policy which he recommended {or consideration. .The Prime Minister said Mr. Chamberlain should frankly accept the upholding of the Versailles Treaty as the only possible basis of public law in Europe. Secondly he should make the maintenance of the Entente with France a cardinal jobject of his policy. Thirdly, he should make Germany's obfervance of her obligations no less a cardinal feature and. in return, if Germany accepted and loyally fulfilled the obligations now presented, the Prime Minister should be prepared to respect Germany's Integrity and welcome her back to the comity of nations.

j They should seek to seenra association vith the United States wherever possible. Mr. Chamberlain suggested that another Dawes Committee should be.appointed by the Reparation Commission. That might be a hopeful way of securing the results desired by the Foreign Office. Prime Minister's Ideals.

Mr. Mac Donald said the question "whether the Dawes plan sought to impose on Germany obligations net legally within the interpretation of the Treaty of Versailles would be reported on by legal experts to the conference on Wednesday. J?Kance had come to regard the Treatv of Versailles as something akin to the ark of the covenant. Any suggestion to put ft aside amazing fears.. Similar feeling was entertained as regards any cnggested modification of the operations ipf the Reparation Commission.

"We must, .however, be most careful," Said Mr. Mac Donald, "that France does net extend the legal provisions of the treaty." With reference to the probability of American participation, he said that practical difficulties alone would prevent an official appointment at present. The only thinjf so far clear was that if thera.was going to be an American on the Reparation Commission, France would insist on an extra appointment to it by reason of the fact that the experts' plan could only be put into operation on the Boating of a £40,000,000 loan, the extra representative's duties being confined to safeguarding the creditors. i With reference to the alternative arbitration .proposal, it must be remembered that the reparation agent-general would have at his command every conceivable particle of information to enable him to give a judgment as to whether there had been a wilful default by Germany or not. The language of the White Paper was left purposely vague. The minimum they were seeking was satisfactory security for the creditors. The Spa agreement, said the Prime Minister, would certainly not be reconsidered at the London Conference. He was most anxious that these questions should not be quarrelled about prior to the inter-Allied Conference at which the Dawes report alone would be considered with a view to putting it into operation. The Separation Commission was a political rather than a judicial body. Certainly as regarded the Ruhr the commiseion had been scrapped, and subsequent action had been taken, not by the Reparation Commission, but by the Governments acting, not together, but on their own initiative. The undermining of eecurity by political action was a problem to be faced. The position he took up was that a creditor should have a security which would be satisfactory to him. The preparation of a programme of sanctions would only mean giving Germany warning, as to how, in event of her default, she would be punished. All that could be hoped was that the conference would be regarded as a nonrecurrent opportunity, hot only for the Allies to reunite, but to unite on the work of pacifying Europe. The vote was agreed to and the debate .terminated.