“A MOMENTARY CHECK"

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12406, 27 March 1926, Page 5

“A MOMENTARY CHECK"

RECENT EVENTS AT GENEVA SIR AUSTEN’S SECOND THOUGHTS LOCARNO NOT HARMED. By Telegraph.—Frees Assn.—Copyright. Beater's Telegram. LONDON, March 25. Sir Austen Chamberlain received the Freedom of the City. Mr Baldwin. Mr Churchill, Mr Amery, the High Commissioners for the Dominions and India, and nine Ambassadors were among those present. Sft* Austen, who was given an ovation, contended that the work of Locarno had emerged from Geneva not merely unharmed but strengthened. He did not doubt that with goodwill the difficulty of reconciling the rights of each democracy in its own country with the spirit of the League could he solved. s IN HIS FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS Sir Austen concluded: "If anything could make this hour dearer and more precious, it is the belief that I have followed in the footsteps of my dear father, and that as the result of the work m which I have been engaged I have repaid some of the debt I owed him in the way dearest to his heart.” Mr Baldwin, in proposing Sir Austen Chamberlain’ b health, said that as Sir Austen’s father’s name was connected with the consolidation of the , Empire so Sir Austen’s would perpetually have a foremost place in the

ranks of those who sought to bring peace to Europe. Nobody had dons more to advance the League of Nations’ interests. LEAGUE IN ITS INFANCY Sir Austen Chamberlain, in his speech, reminded his hearers that two great far-seeing German statesmen took the first step in the path to Locarno. Dealing with the results of the Geneva Conference he said: “I think that during the bitterness of the first disappintment I used exaggerated language, for the event, thougn unfortunate, had neither the inevitableneae nor the finality of true tragedy. Such a set-back is not surprising when one remembers that the League is in its infancy, but it is only a momentary check, due to exterior circumstances. We could not expect as much t from the young League as we may hope when it reaches its maturity.” Foreign afiairs, he added, which formerly were a mystery known to few, were now everybody’s business. Democracy’s claims for information, sometimes clashed with the League’s work. Unless the rights of democracy were wisely used, the result of the Geneva Conference might be a repetition of the old story of irreconcilable claims, instead of opening a new chapter of conciliation.