MULTILATERAL PACT PLAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19928, 23 April 1928, Page 11

MULTILATERAL PACT PLAN.

FRENCH DRAFT PROPOSALS. •t -. i 'v ■ ; - ' ; >' RENUNCIATION OF WAR, IMPORTANT RESERVATIONS; Australian Press Association—United Service (Received April 22, S.SS p.m.) PARIS, April 21. The following is a summary of the text of the latest French plan for a multilateral pact to outlaw war. (1) The signatories, without endangering their legitimate rights of defence within the limits of existing treaties, condemn recourse to war and renounce it as an instrument of national policy or of personal, spontaneous independent political B,ction in v/hich they take the initiative; but not as an action in which they find themselves involved by the application of a treaty such as the Covenant of the League of Nations, or any other treaty registered with th» League. They engage themselves under these conditions not to attack one another and not to invade one another's territory. (2) All disputes and differences shall be settled entirely by peaceful means. (3) Any breach of the treaty shall release the signatories from their obligations in regard to the guilty party. (4) The present treaty shall in no way nullify the obligations consequent upon previous treaties. (5) The treaty will be proposed to all the Powers and will only become binding after its. unanimous acceptance, unless an agreement to the contrary is reached. WARS OF AGGRESSION* REFERENCE IN THE TEXT. ONLY ONES TO BE RENOUNCED. Australian and N.Z, Press Association. (Received April 23. 5.5 p.m.) WASHINGTON, April 21. The draft, of the French multilateral treaty which has been published in Washington reveals the fact that only wars of aggression would definitely be renounced by the pact. The term " aggression " is not contained in the draft, but the first article states specifically that the signatories agree not to attack one another or to invade each other's territory. The right to wage war in order to enforce peace under the Covenant of the League, the Treaty of Locarno and the various neutrality treaties is definitely reserved. OPINION OF GERMANY. UNSUITABLE FINESSE. Australian and N.Z. Press Association. (Received April 23, I.S a.m.) BERLIN. April 21. The official spokesman of the German Foreign Office says the French draft pact seems to be an attempt to weave niggling reservations into the proposals made by the United States, and that it is calculated to weaken their moral effect. Such finesse was an unsuitable method of realising the project which Germany had welcomed.