BRITAIN AT GENEVA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22259, 6 November 1935, Page 12

BRITAIN AT GENEVA

The Foreign Minister has done well to make public reference to false statements in circulation regarding Britain's foreign policy in these critical days. These statements, although attributable to the electioneering tactics of parties hostile to the Government, are likely to have a pernicious influence abroad unless promptly and authoritatively answered. Three were given currency a little while ago. One was that the British Government had left Italy in doubt as to its attitude on the Italo-Abyssinian dispute at certain stages of its development. The falsity of this charge could be shown only by traversing the course of diplomatic relations throughout the period, including communications to Home; but this was painstakingly done by Sir Samuel Hoare, supported by foreign as well as British testimony. Another rumour was that he and Mr. Anthony Eden were in disagreement, that they adopted different attitudes to the League. No doubt the purveyors of this rumour'hoped they were speaking the truth, for in certain Liberal quarters there was a frank determination to belittle Mr. Eden's work abroad. This took recently the form of suggesting that he was unduly magnifying his office as Minister for League Affairs and getting in the way of the Foreign Minister. The latter's emphatic' denial of this ought not to have been necessary. The third story suggested a sinister motive behind the Foreign Minister's latest visit to Geneva, and again Sir Samuel TTonre had occasion to expose a falsehood likely to create trouble on the Continent. Mr. Baldwin has added strong words in condemning the first and second of these canards. Now comes another, to the effect that the British Government is plotting to destroy the League ns soon as the election is over. This 'apparently originated in London, but it ha-s obtained currency in Europe, associated with a revival of the idea of the transfer of important League functions to a croup of leading Powers—an idea repugnant. to the smaller Powers and imperilling the harmonv. _ even the existence, of the League. The Foreign Minister's disposal of the rumour of subversive British action is timely. Fantastic as the accusation is, it might have wrought swift havoc at this international crisis, when national nervousness may all too easily produce an atmosphere of suspicion. Sir Samuel Hoare's plain words are not a whit too strong.