LABOUR ON FOREIGN POLICY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23019, 22 April 1938, Page 8

LABOUR ON FOREIGN POLICY

While the New Zealand Labour Party has reaffirmed its faith in the principles represented by the League of Nations, it apparently takes a sufficiently ■objective view of world affairs to see that at present collective security does not rest on any firm basis. So "in the meantime" the conference goes on to pledge itself "to support the Government in every step necessary to ensure the adequate defence of" the Dominion." That has been wisely resolved and, encouraged by this support, it may be hoped the Government will proceed with an active defence programme as adequate as the times demand and the country's means will allow. If the Government also acts on the conference's further suggestion that it should "institute and publish reports dealing with the causes of war and the best methods of promoting world peace," it may perform important educative work. Such a campaign, to be useful, would have to be frank and honest. There are aspects of the Government's policy that certainly do not square with the collective ideas current at Geneva. Mr. Savage's policy of insulation or Mr. Nash's prohibitive tariff items offer cases in point. The negative attitude to immigration and the incomplete development of the country's resources while other nations go hungry are others. While we in New Zealand are talking about social justice, great and powerful nations complain of international injustice and inequality. Whether their plaints and pleas are wellfounded or not, they cannot be omitted from "the causes of war" and their impartial examination should be numbered among "the best methods of promoting peace."