SEEKING WORLD PEACE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18946, 18 February 1925, Page 9

SEEKING WORLD PEACE.

FRANCE EVOLVING PLAN. SUBSTITUTE FOR PROTOCOL. BRITAIN AND DOMINIONS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received 5.5 p.m.) Times.—Renter. LONDON. Feb. 16. The Paris correspondent of the Times says that, realising that the possibility of Britain's adherence to the Geneva peace protocol in its present form must now be definitely abandoned, the French Government seems to have begun to search for something which could be substituted. At present it appears to be working in tho direction of a mutual guarantee pact, to which other States would be free to subscribe. The idea apparently is that there should develop in the course of time something resembling the protocol. It is stated that the report to the effect that the British Government is negotiating with any other Power in regard to the Geneva protocol is untrue. The Government cannot define its policy until it knows tho mind of the Dominions. Any suggestions made by the Committee of Imperial Defence must first be transmitted overseas and (he replies of the Dominion Governments must be received in London. Meanwhile the British Government is not discussing the question with anyone, IMPERIAL PROPOSALS. DELAY IN PREPARATION. ALTERNATIVE TO PROTOCOL. Australian and Sf.Z, Cable Association. (Reed. 1.5 a.m.) LONDON. Feb. 16. It is authoritatively stated that it will be practically impossible to prepare and print the. Imperial protocol proposals in time for the March meeting of the Council of the League of Nations, at which Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, is certain to request a postponement of the discussion. The replies from the Dominions may be ready for the June meeting of the council, but this is doubtful. The alternative is cither to await a fuller Assembly at Geneva in September, or better still, to include the protocol in the agenda for the Imperial Conference in October. The sub-committee of the Imperial Defence Committee will on Wednesday submit to the Cabinet an exhaustive analysis of tho protocol, pointing out its weaknesses and its unpractical nature, and suggesting new means of achieving security. It is generally accepted that the disarmament conference, which it was proposed to hold at Geneva in June, will be abandoned • SECURITY AND DEBTS. TWO QUESTIONS LINKED. FRANCE AND DAWES SCHEME. LONDON. Feb. 11. The 'French press is again linking up the question of security with the debt to ' Britain, but the Paris correspondent of the Times says there arc. indications that the Government is more immediately interested in the financial problem than in the guarantee pact. The Premier, M. Herriot, has always valued considerably the Dawes plan as a guarantee of French security. His argument is that if Germany fulfils the Dawes obligations sho will hardly bo able to wage war, while the advantages the, plan brings her may be reasonably expected to lessen her inclination to seek revenge. Holding this theory, M. Herriot is naturally rather shocked at the. implied suggestion in the British Note that London does not regard the Dawes annuities as reliable assets. That the British Government has not much faith in the plan as a permanent system of collecting reparations is indeed widely regretted, as well as the fact that the Note contained no definite assurance that Britain intends to make the plan work.