LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18942, 13 February 1925, Page 11

LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

OBJECTIVES OUTLINED. PEACE AND DISARMAMENT. WORK ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED, " Must people think that the League of Nations is a, voluntary organisation consisting of old gentlemen, most of them vegetarians, who meet together at Geneva to pass resolutions that have no influence whatever on the policy of Governments or their people. The Leaguo is not that." Such was the preface of an illustrative lecture on the work of the League of Nations that was given in the Town Hall concert chamber last evening by Mr. J. V. Wilson, a New Zealand member of the League's secretariat at Geneva, who is on a visit to his native country. He is an admirable ambassador for the League, and should quicken and increaso Dominion interest in the work of the ideal instrument for promoting international peace. There was a splendid attendance of citizens, over whom Mr. E. C. Cutten, S-M., in the unavoidable absence of the Mayor, Sir James Gunson, presided. The lecturer was given an encouraging reception, to which he Vesponded with a fascinating exposition of the objects arid achievements of the League. The League of Nations, explained Mr. Wilson, was different from what most people thought it was, and also from what most people thought it ought to be. "The League of Nations is simply this country and 54 others, who have banded themselves together m order to achieve certain definite objects. They have banded themselves together by a solemn treaty signed by the Prime Minister of New Zealand ar.d ratified by the King on behalf of the British Empire as a whole and on behalf of this Dominion in particular. That treaty is the covenant of the League of Nations." Incompleteness of the League. la outlining the purposes of the League, Mr. Wilson explained its machinery, consisting of the Assembly, which comprised the delegates of the 55 States in the League, the Council, which was composed of io States including four of the Great Powers, and the Secretariat with headquarters at Geneva. In addition to these there woro two other organisations, these being the International Labour Organisation, which held its own conferences, and the Permanent Industrial Court of Justice, which sat at the Hague. " I must deal with the chief criticism of the League," continued Mr. Wilson. "That is as to its incompleteness. It is certainly valid criticism. At present three great Powers—the United States of America, Germany and Russia—are not members of the League. Their absence is undoubtedly a seriou3 weakness of the League, but do not imagine that there is anything in the Leaguo which checks these nations from becoming members. These three nations are free to join the Leaguo of Nations in exactly the same conditions a3 those under which the other nations joined. It has been said that it is hopeless for the League to do anything until the United States comes in. It is by getting on with the work of the League that these outstanding nations will in time bo drawn within its orbit." (Applause.) International Co-operation. Had the League done anything to promote international co-operation ? An Auckland newspaper had said that he would deal fully with this subject. Unfortunately he had to leave Auckland within 14 hours, and thus could only givo the briefest sketch of what the League had done. (Laughter.) It had already dealt with a series of crises in international affairs. In 1920 the greatest danger to the world was the westward spread of plagues, typhus and cholera from Russia. The health committee of the League met that menace and established a sanitary cordon across Europe, effectively checking the devastating westward march of these diseases, and even checking their progress in Russia itself with the co-operation of the Soviet Govern - •ment. Then in 1922 the Republic of Austria was on the verge of financial and economic collapse. Public money amounting to £25,000,000, mostly subscribed by Great Britain, simply had , been wasted, and Austria was going from bad to worse. The League took the matter up, and within five weeks a comprehensive scheme had been devised and put into operation, and from that date the definite recovery of Austria, if not of Europe, became slow hut certain. It was the turning point really for the economic recovery for the whole of Europe. The lecturer also summarised the work of the League in respect of providing relief for the Grecian refugees, who streamed from Smyrna into their own impoverished country. Those refugees had liot been given precarious charity, but had been given productive employment. In addition, the League had dealt with a whole scries of international questions far too numerous to mention, these including fiscal and commercial problems, sanitary regulations, intellectual co-operation, the suppression of traffic in opium and other darfferous drugs, and the traffic in women and children. There was at the present time a secret committee of the League investigating the demoralising traffic in women and children. Referring to the work of the International Labour Organisation, Mr. Wilson noted satirically that New Zealand had not yet seen fit to send delegates to its annual conference at Geneva. The Dominion, however, did not enjoy splendid isolation alone. It shared it with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Salvador. The principal object of the Labour Organisation was to level up industrial conditions throughout the world, thus diminishing severe competition through cheap production against more advanced nations. Hence the importance of its work to countries like New Zealand. . Pacific Settlement of Disputes. The work of the League of Nations concerning the Pacific settlement of international disputes was also traversed by the lecturer, who explained what had been done in respect of the Graeco-Italian dispute, and the dispute between Britain and Turkey over the Mosul frontier in connection with the British mandated territory of Irak. It had to bo recognised that the League was not a super State that could compel nations to adhere to the covenant of the League, but it was a living system for the promotion of settlement by arbitration and round-table discussion. The League also did constructive work for peace, including the protection of racial minorities in different countries. In conclusion Mr. Wilson explained in detail the terms and objects of the Geneva Protocol, which was nothing more or less than an amendment of the covenant of the League, designed to give among other things security to all States that accepted arbitration for the settlement of international disputes, and to achieve a reduction of armaments as the result of that security. "To the eternal question: Can the League of Nations prevent war?" said the lecturer, "the answer is: 'lt depends.' " Several excellent lantern slides were screened, showing the work of the League and many ol its members. A of the League's expenditure showed that New Zealand's contribution worked out last year at about twopence per head of the Dominion's population. A vote of thanks to the lecturer, who is a Now Zealander, was accorded with acclamation, and it was resolved, on the motion of Mr. T. Bloodworth, seconded bv Mr. C. H. Furness, to urgo tho necessi'ty for extending the work and membership of the League of Nations Union in this community.