LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20759, 30 December 1930, Page 7

LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

NEW ZEALANDER'S WORK. WORLD ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. PROGRESS OF DISARMAMENT. After seven years' service at the Secretariat of the League of Nations, during which he acted as one of the personal assistants of Sir Eric Drummond, Secre-tary-General of the League, Mr. J. V. Wilson, of Christchurch, arrived by tho Niagara yesterday on furlough. He is one of three New Zealanders attached to the secretariat, the others being .Mr. J-. H. Chapman, of Wellington, and Mr. E. Harston, of Hawke's Bay; Speaking of the League's work, Mr. Wilson said it had to be remembered thai the Assembly met last September under the shadow of world economic depression. That circumstance materially cut short some of the finer flowers of oratory, but on the whole it resulted in a greater appreciation of realities than ever before and economic questions were in the foreground of the discussions... The representatives of all the British Dominions played a prominent part. On the suggestion of the Indian Government the League was now carrying out an inquiry into the present economic crisis. Mr. Wilson said M. Briand's proposal for a European had excited great interest in League circles. This scheme was being kept well within the framework of the League, but" further than that it was hard to say anything, as the proposal was still in a preparatory stage, and it was impossible to predict what the issue would be. The League Committee, which was tp meet in January, would study the question further. _ Public opinion on the Continent ve, 7 divided on M. Briand's proposal, said Mr. Wilson. " Some of the Central European States are particularly interested in it, while some of the overseas States seem •to prefer to see how the scheme develops before expressing ciu opinion." . The Mandates Commission was stul :in session when I left Geneva," said Mr.Wilson. "It had just heard the reports of the representatives of the New Zealand Government, Sir Thomas Wilford, High Commissioner, and Mr. C. A. Berendsen, of the External Affairs Department, Wellington, with regard to the annual report on Samoa. The conclusions of the Commission had not been, published when I left." Mr. Wilson said the Preparatory Commission on Disarmament dealt with what was perhaps the most important League problem of the moment. It had now concluded its task,' which was to prepare a draft convention to be eonsidered at a world disarmament conference. That draft did not give anything like satisfaction to the States which had been forcibly disarmed, but, as Lord Cecil recently said, " it probably represents the best compromise possible under existing political conditions." The United States was taking a prominent part in the disarmament work of the League, and also in the greater part of its other work.