"NO MORE AND NO LESS"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22389, 8 April 1936, Page 12

"NO MORE AND NO LESS"

Two statements, one from the present and the other from the former Foreign Secretary, which are published to-day, will go into history. Speaking of Britain's attitude toward collective action through the League against Italy, Mr. Eden said that whatever the final verdict of the Committee of Eighteen might be, the responsibility must be shared by the League members. "We take our share, no more and no less." In a speech outside the Commons, Sir Samuel Hoare referred to his own problem, and said he hoped Mr. Eden and his successors would never be placed in his position of last autumn when he saw on the one hand the obligations Britain must fulfil if she desired to honour her plighted word, and, on the other, the condition of her defences, which made it almost impossible to take the part she should. Mr. Amery in a debate on foreign affairs six weeks ago urged the Government to extricate itself from the blind alley of sanctions. Sanctions, so far as they have been applied, have not stopped the war in Abyssinia and conciliation at the behest of France is the present line of League policy. If conciliation fails, as it is likely to fail, because through the months of delay Italy has certainly strengthened her reserves of materials, the only remaining, alternative for the League will be collective action by force. Britain will stand by her pledge, but only to the extent of her share, "no more and no less." Fifty States are directly concerned. The eyes of France are fixed more closely than ever upon her Rhineland frontier. Is it likely that under the circumstances the League will agree to enforce more exacting sanctions, and if it did, what reliance could Britain place upon her fellow members to take their full share? Among the many facts revealed by the situation none stands out more clearly than that the comparative weakness of British arms has weakened her own and the League's authority.