THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1926. PEACE AND GERMANY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19503, 6 December 1926, Page 10

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1926. PEACE AND GERMANY.

' Two facts stand out in the present stage of international negotiations concerning disarmament. One is the general, not to say universal, desire for peace; the other, no less - evident, is the caution with . which almost all the Powers approach practical measures to prevent war. The first of these facts presents the liopefid aspect of current international r events; the second is a check to B 7 4 optimism, although it furnishes no reason for despair. At the meeting of the League Council to-day an attempt will be made to find a way of harmonising hope with fear. That this is a difficult task goes without saying; but there is a promise of a measure of success. The problem has been brought into the region of practical affairs by the studiously careful preparatory work of the Council's sub-committee. It has had the benefit of expert counsel, besides being representative of all the leading Powers. It has not merely collected data: following the very searching order of reference given in its instructions, it has examined competing views and reached finality in its recommendations. Lord Cecil's expression of satisfaction with its work is especially significant, for in one major particular—that of extending the definition of disarmament to inolude ' 'invisible" national strength—its findings favour the French rather than the British view. The Council may not be'prepared to accept the findings fully. There will be, at all events, a very thorough discussion of them. Yet there is offered, for the first time since the League's covenant was prepared—that is to say, for the first time since the war that drove the nations to plan seriously for enduring peace—a practical plan to achieve the League's main objective. Interest centres on the attitude that Germany's representatives may take. For many reasons, Germany is pressing for general disarmament, whatever the particular formula to be accepted. She has not ceased to urge, since her admission to the League, that other Powers should no longer be allowed to enjoy a privilege of which she was shorn as a result of her defeat in the war. Her plea has taken the form of claiming that, by her admission to the League, a new order has been created in which'she is given full equality of status with other Powers in membership. She has appealed to the wording of the Versailles Treaty, whose clauses concerning her armaments begin with "Up till the time at which Germany is admitted as a member of the League of Nations." But the claim does not bear investigation. She has acquired a new international status, it is. trQe; but the provisions of the peace treaty are not thereby set aside as a matter of course. The treaty remains in force. By it she gave certain definite undertakings and the principal Allied and Associated Powers reserved equally definite rights. These undertakings and | rights may come under the purview of the League. If and when they do, they may be modified. , There is nothing to say that, immediately on Germany's joining the League, they are by that event set aside. It is precisely stated in the treaty that "Germany agrees that after she has become fl member of the League of Nations the armaments fixed in the said table"—affecting the strengths of her infantry, cavalry, artillery and headquarters—"shall remain in force , until they are modified by the Council of the, League." Further, "she ; hereby agrees strictly to observe the decisions of the Council of the ! League on this subject." These ; undertakings convincingly disprove i her specious claim that an entirely new order is introduced by her admission to League membership. The j Council may or may not modify the armaments. It has full discretionary i power. Germany deliberately agreed j that the international handicappers j should have unfettered right toiim f pose whatever disability they might j think fit, whenever she joined the { registered association of contestants, t She has joined, and now claims a , right to start on equal terms with j all the rest. She has no such right. ( The handicappers, among whom she t has now a representative, may c grant her equal treatment. That would be another story. She is not c likely to improve her chances of E getting it by demanding it as a matter of right. The pressing of a { claim so palpably false is more likely t to raise doubts as to her sportsman- t ship and stiffen the determination to c watch her closely. i That this determination should not c be abated was the opinion of the t Ambassadors' Conference held in e October. After full consideration, c it decided "that the disarmament of £ Germany is not sufficiently far ad- r vanced to warrant its being handed f over for the future to the League t of Nations." The Council is bound I to take notice of this declaration, v There is in Germany a manifest * desire for peace, but there is also in t Germany an equally manifest reluct- s ance to abandon the dream of mili- s tary conquest. These seemingly t irreconcilable tendencies are ex- r plained by the fact that in Germany x. each has its exponents. Facing the a leaders who have made, probably r with sincerity, protestations against t the old policy of "blood and iron," c there is a, strong element favouring* r that policy's perpetuation. That c element has representatives in high ci places. For the nonce, the ex- i

ponents of a pacific policy have political ascendancy and they furnish the diplomatic spokesmen in the chancellories of Europe. But their tenure of office is not by any means secure, and they have been unable to impress their will upon the whole machinery of government. In the Reichswehr is still, thanks to the. assiduity of General von Seeckt, who has only recently been superseded, the nucleus of a powerful military instrument containing all the framework for its own speedy expansion. Secret recruiting has been going on up to a recent date. The Inter-Allied Commission of Control is not satisfied that the disarmament conditions of the peace treaty have been fully observed. Judgment in such matters may easily err on the side of harshness. If so, the fault is mainly Germany's, for the commission's work of investigation has been hampered by her at many points. Her complaint that evacuation of the occupied areas has not been completed has little weight until she takes steps to make suspicion impossible. The onus is hers. It will be well if a comprehensive plan of disarmament be devised to include a review of her position. It is essential, indeed, that her case be carefully related to that general plan. But she ought not to blink the fact that it is a special ease, calling for discriminating and firm handling.