THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1935 A REFORMED LEAGUE?

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22260, 7 November 1935, Page 12

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1935 A REFORMED LEAGUE?

When* Sir Samuel Hoare lately gave plain and convincing denial to several false statements in circulation regarding the foreign policy of the British Government he was particularly severe on the ono of most recent appearance —that the Government was plotting to destroy the League and to go back to the 'system of separate alliances. This is the most sinister of the rumours given currency. If it were true, then all that he and Mr. Eden have done at Geneva, all their participation in parleys at Paris and Rome, all the relevant public utterances of Mr. Baldwin and others in responsible positions, would be shamefully deceptive; the reiteration of loyalty to the League as the fundamental principle' of the Government's foreign policy wohld be a colossal sham. Happily, the Foreign Minister has been able to say "with great deliberation" that the Cabinet has considered no plan for tho reform\)f the League, that it is not sounding foreign nations on the subject, and that, so far from giving encouragement to the fantastic suggestion of depriving the League of its coercive power, he and Mr. Eden have been doing their utmost to strengthen the hands of the League and make its collective action really successful. News from Germany to-day shows how great was the need for this clear and positive utterance. It is stated by a. responsible German newspaper that Britain has displaced France in leadership at Geneva, with the result that the danger of a Latin Mediterranean alliance, disturbing European equilibrium, has been removed in the name of collectivism; further, that Britain purposes to abandon collectivism in favour of an Anglo-German agreement of much wider scope than the naval agreement already reached between the two countries. Yesterday it was reported that there had been discussion about modifying the structure of the League, the object being to bring Germany back and to establish a new security system based on French, German and British co-operation. Dr. Schacht, German Minister of Economics, was named as a supporter of such a project, which was linked with a suggestion, said to have emanated from London, of transferring the League's most important functions to a smaller and more elastic body composed of the Great Powers. These various items of news are significant straws in the wind.

It was to be expected that the present international crisis would produce some dangerous intrigue, designed to undermine the work and influence of the League. Where it has arisen is not of so much moment as the fact of its arising. It may have been prompted by Italy, through Germany, in the hope of destroying harmony in the League, or it may have come independently from Germany, in the hope of achieving German re-entry to an influential group of Powers, smaller than the League and exclusive of Russia. Italy would gladly scuttle the League. Germany has no love for it, but would welcome a place of national dignity in a privileged European coterie, even with France, providing Russia were not a member ; probably the Anglo-German naval agreement is regarded in Berlin as a step toward a new European alignment of the kind, giving opportunity for advantageous national bargaining—certainly recent ' news from Germany, particularly hints in the German press and the politic speech of General Goering, points that way. Russia's membership of the League, an unexpected sequel to Germany's notice of withdrawal, palpably inspired German efforts, and still inspires them, to seek friendly understandings westward. And the unstable, sensitive situation created by Italy's quarrel with the League, and the consequent difficulty of detailed co-operation in imposing sanctions, presents an opportunity to insert a disruptive wedge in Genevan politics, without reason has this talk of "a reformed League" begun at this particular time. It is plausible, of course; it may even assume a guise of concern for the League itself. No one, least of all in Berlin or Rome, needs to be told that current happenings mean a crisis for the League, a strain upon its accord as well as its machinery in the unexampled venture to impose peace upon a mutinous member; and to improve what to Germany and Italy is a shining hour —especially if this can be done with ostensible care for world peace —is a natural effort by either of these malcontents. Well is it that Sir Samuel Hoare has been moved to declare Britain's utter aloofness from schemes to lower the prestige and weaken the work of the League.

There may eventually be a need to refashion the machinery of the League. It is being subjected to a test entirely novel, one that it is less adequately equipped to sustain than it would have been before Germany and Japan withdrew, one more severe than was contemplated when there was expectation of virtually universal membership; and after survival of this test there should be a candid survey of the articles of the Covenant relating to disputes and rrjeasures to induce their prompt submission to peaceful adjudication. Then, and then only,

can it be feasible and profitable to discuss methods of coercion, to say nothing of any new system of collective security divergent from the fundamental structure' of tho League. To interject this discussion now would be wrong in both principle and practice—disloyal and inexpedient. The present conflict with Italy must be fought _ by the League as it is, whatever its virtues or faults. Those trying to turn practical attention now to its defects are necessarily suspect of defeatist motives. If they are given their way the League might just as well go out of business. It is essential to the future of the cause of international peace that, when this struggle is over, the League shall remain as a rallying base for whatever fresh ventures of the sort are then deemed desirable. The present talk of change 'savours too much of merely national policy to promise any useful international achievement. One duty presses: it is to make the League, as it exists, effective against those delighting in war.