"RUSHING THE HURDLES"

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12248, 21 September 1925, Page 7

"RUSHING THE HURDLES"

LEAGUE’S POLICY CRITICISED AUSTRALIA’S POINT OF VIEW SECURITY MUST COME FIRST liv Telegraph.—Press Assn—Copyright (Special to Australian Press Assn.) GENEVA, September IS. Senator Drake-Brockman, of Aus- : tralia, in a temperate but frank speech, said that statesmen had formed last year’s Protocol with an eye only on Europe; yet they believed they were legislating for the world, and consequently there were elements in the Protocol that were not acceptable to the nations outside Europe, and therefore the world was no nearer the ideal of disarmament. How could there be security, he said, when apparently every nation in Europe distrusted every other nation? Let the League steadily persevere in encouraging trust among the nations. Trust was the condition precedent to everything else. The League had accomplished much towards peace and security. There was greater public trust in the League to-day than there was six years ago, hut overloading it would mean the risk of breaking it, HOW CAN THEY DISARM? The first necessity for security and disarmament was to get Germany committed to the Covenant. Ae regards the Near East, he asked how the Eastern Powers could disarm while a Russia of the present-day type existed. Finally, he urged spiritual and mental disarmament as a prelude to physical disarmament. He supported the Spanish proposal to leave the matter in the hands of the Council, to convene a disarmament conference as soon as a degree of seourity was established. If the proposed extravagant investigatory body were created, the work was J doomed to failure. Without security, would not its very investigations exaggerate rather than allay the existing irritations? It would be better to appoint a sub-committee to try to reach a formula acceptable to everybody. AUSTRALIA’S SACRIFICE Many might ask, he said, why Australia was interested. It was because what had happened in Europe materially affected Australia. As the result of the Great War she had incurred a huge debt, and 60,000 ' Australians lay on the battlefields of Europe. Consequently Australia did not want another European war. He hoped moral disarmament was ever growing nearer, and therefore he disapproved of the creation of an expensive disarmament secretariat, and warned those who were “trying to make us rush over hurdles.” The speech won cordial approval from the Italians and Austrians, while a Belgian remarked, “The truth can do no harm.” But otherwise there was some coldness.