NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21469, 18 April 1933, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

WAR IN THE EAST "I do not think it is any use expecting too nnich from the League of Nations," said Mr. Winston Churchill in a speech in which he indicated his approval of the embargo on the export of arms to China and Japan. "I have a great respect for the League and think it is a valuable instrument in Europe. I should be sorry to see its functions arrested and, because 1 respect it, I am most anxious that it should not be dragged into this quarrel at the far end of the world where it has practically no influence and absolutely no power to be of aid. Those who say 'lf the League cannot stop tho war in the Far East, what is the use of it?' are poor friends to the League. I have seen much very good work done by the League in Europe and in some parts of Asia. We must not blame the League for not attempting tasks beyond its strength and absolutely outside its scope." BRITAIN STANDING FAST Speaking in Lonuon recently Major Tryon, Minister of Pensions, said that looking round the world he thought people had every reason to be thankful that they were not living in other countries. "I do not feel any desire," he said, "to settle in the Irish Free State at the moment and I gather that not many of our Labour friends are going off to live in Russia. If we look at the United States I do not think the position there compares very favourably with the position in this country, though we all sincerely hope they will soon find a way out of their difficulties. In the Far East we see a war going on in which I hope we shall not be involved by the hasty action of our pacifists; and in Germany we see remarkable changes taking place. But we can at least say this for our country, that it is standing fast in a very troubled world, for in this country Parliamentary institutions are still being carried on, and we are governing ourselves. The English people showed only too clearly at the last general election that they were fitted to govern themselves." THE WORLD CONFERENCE Dealing with the prospects of the World Economic Conference in a recent speech, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: " I have attended only two conferences and both were successful. Perhaps that makes me more sanguine than other people. I do not disguise from myself that the difficulties facing the World Conference are perhaps greater than those which faced us at Lausanne, or later in the Canadian capital. All the same, I am reminded of a saying of Dr. Johnson, who once said to a friend: ' Depend upon it, sir, it concentrates a man's mind wonderfully when he knows he is going to be hanged at 8 o'clock in the morning.' I do not say that is exactly the fate I anticipate for the nations of the world, but the very imminence of the danger hanging over them, tho very severity of tho crisis and the necessity of finding relief is likely to make them receptive to new ideas, and I myself remain full of hope and confidence that whatever difficulties may arise, we shall in the course of this year overcome them and have a third successful conference." INDIAN POLICY Alluding in a recent speech to the charge that the course of policy which will give self-government to India is a weak policy, Sir Samuel Hoare, Secretary for India, said: —"I am inclined to think that tho weak policy is to sit still and do nothing. 1 could remain in Whitehall; I could go on steadily maintaining law and order; the Viceroy in India could go on crushing civil disobedience and any attempt to challenge the established Government. What would be the opinion of the world at large when in 10 years' time there had been recrimination, there had been reversals of policy, and when, as a result of the fact that wo had failed to plan for the future when we had tho opportunity, tho affairs of India went the way of the affairs of Ireland before the war and tho whole machine of government crashed along tho road where it had drifted? The wise course and the straight course is not to sit with folded hands and to leave the difficulties to be solved or unsolved by future generations, but to take the opportunity that we now have, the opportunity that may never recur with the great sober, cautious majority in the House of Commons, with a large body of men in India who are friendly disposed to us, to take that opportunity and plan now for the future. In my small way I am trying to act on common sense, business lines in politics. I think it is possible to make the best of the opportunity that may not recur to adapt our plant in India to modern conditions, to readjust tho articles of association between Great Britain and India, to embark upon great new developments, but, none the less, to work always and constantly within the old framework—the frame- , Work of tho British Empire."