PLAN FOR PEACE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25289, 24 August 1945, Page 7

PLAN FOR PEACE

CHARTER RATIFIED DUTY BEFORE NATIONS DESIRE TO SUCCEED DEBATE IN COMMONS (Reed. 6.10 p.m.) LONDON, Anff. '23 The United Nations Charter has been ratified by the House of Commons. The Prime Minister, Mr C. R. Attlee, moving the resolution approving the Charter, said the success of the new organisation would not depend on the exact provisions, but the spirit in which they were worked. If a Great Power resolved nob to carry out the Charter's principles, no paper provision would restrain it, said .Mr Attlee. Failure by the Great Powers to agree and act together would inevitably mean the organisation's ruin. The Charter endeavoured to put into practical form the deep feelings of the peoples, including the lighting men, who had made it possible. Rights of Minorities The Charter went beyond the League of Nations' powers in providing for minorities' rights. "Can anyone deny that the kind of treatment meted out by the Nazis to the Jews is a question which transcends mere domestic jurisdiction P" he stated, "if there should arise—God forbid —anything like this persecution in other lands, the new organisation will take note of it and take action." Collective action was not merely a promise to act when an emergency occurred. but action and co-operation to prevent the emergency occurring. The League of Nations came into action at too late a stage. It was to be hoped that error had been corrected. What was required were continual discussions on international affairs, not spasmodic action in crises. Charter Corresponds to Realities Mr Attlee, referring to the San Francisco Conference, said the most critical debates turned on the point of how small nations' rights could be preserved while the Great Powers were given a position commensurate with their importance and responsibility. There was considerable agreement that the matter could not be settled by putting all States completely on a level oblivious to their population and the extent of their power. The small States' ultimate acceptance of the broad lines of the Great Powers' proposals was due to the fact that the Charter's basis corresponded to the world's realities today.

"This is a great Charter," said Mr Attlee. "it is a great instrument, ready to be used in the interest of world peace and prosperity, I do not say it is the final step. The Charter itself may he amended as a result of experience. All of us realise we are now faced with a naked choice between world cooperation and world destruction. With the consciousness of six years of war behind us and the possibilities which hang over us in the future I commend the Charter to the House." Not Tied Up With Peace Treaty

Mr Anthony Eden, the s former! Foreign Secretary, whom Mr Attlee praised for his leadership at Sail Francisco, especially in the early stages, welcomed the fact that the Charter did not enforce boundaries and organisation. Unlike the League, it was not tied up with the peace treaty.' Mr Eden added that it was ludicrous to suggest that the Great Powers dictated to the small Powers. A commission or a committee, on which all the nations taking part were represented, examined every article in the Charter. Every item had to be carried by a twothirds majority. "If ever there was a subject on which there ought to be unanimity it is this," concluded Mr Eden. The new Lord Chancellor, 1/Ord Jowitt. making his maiden speech in the House of Lords, moved the ratification of the United Nations Charter "The Charter contains the difference between life and death for civilisation as we know it," he said. "The Charter is tiie outward and visible sign of the determination of the nations which won the war to co-operate until peace is established on such a firm foundation that it cannot thereafter be overthrown." Atomic Bomb Secret Lord Jowitt said it was a strange irony that the men who had made possible' the death-dealing atomic bomb were the most internationally-minded in the world. "I don't believe the atomic bomb is a secret that can be kept indefinitely," he said. "To try to do so would indeed only encourage research into methods of destruction in every country in the world." Lord Cranborne, formerly Secretary of the Dominions and leader of the House of Lords, said the Charter gave the world one more chance of putting its affairs on a better basis. Viscount Samuel suggested that a national rather than a purely Labour Government delegation should attend the peace conference. That would he a visible expression of Britain's unity on foreign policy. The debate was adjourned. HENRY PU YFS POSITION CHUNGKING, Aug. 22 Chinese quarters indicated that Henry I'u Yi, the puppet Emperor of Manrluiria, will probably be treated leniently if he is captured. Most of the Chinese always considered Pu Yi a hapless puppet, without the oourage to resist the Japanese.