THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, MARCH 27, 1922. THE PACIFIC PACT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18514, 27 March 1922, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, MARCH 27, 1922. THE PACIFIC PACT.

The opposition to the Four-Power Pacific Treaty in the United States Senate proved to be much less formidable than was threatened. The majorities by which a series of amendments to the Treaty were defeated indicate, moreover, that any filibustering tactics to which the opponents of the pact may resort will be wholly vain. The acceptance of it, subject to the reservation proposed by Senator Brandegee, is, in, fact, absolutely assured. That reservation is designed to protect the United States from commitment to the use of armed force, to repudiate any suggestion that the Treaty involves an alliance, and to disclaim any obligation under the Treaty on the part of the United States to go to the defence of other signatories to the Treaty. It is reported this morning that Japan offers no objection to the acceptance of this reservation. Nor is it likely that the other parties to the Treaty will perceive any ground of objection in it. War cannot be wholly ruled out of consideration as a method by which nations can settle vital differences that may arise between them. But the increasing destructiveness of the implements of warfare and the realisation of the horrible consequences which any future war must bring in its train are contributing to the growth of a will to peace. In the United States, as in Great Britain and elsewhere, there is a wholesome popular sentiment in favour of the abolition of war, so far ns this object may be attained, and in favour of the limitation of the means by which war may b© carried on. It is to the purpose of rendering war more than it, has been that the Naval and Pacific Treaties, which are the outcome of the Disarmament Conference at Washington, are directed. Sir Valentine Chirol has observed, in a magazine article, that “there were probably no sober-minded Americans and Japanese, and least of all amongst military and naval experts, who regarded a war between their two countries as a practical proposition, if only because the experience of the Great War had shown that the mere transportation of the huge forces necessary to finish the war on one side or other'of the vast Pacific Ocean, under very much more hazardous conditions than the transportation of the American Army across the Atlantic during the Great War, must transcend the shipping resources of any maritime Power.” But war in the Pacific, while it would impose a great tax on the resources of the belligerents, is not impossible. What the Conference at Washington has done is to bind the maritime nations with special interests in the Pacific to an agreement to refrain from rendering the natural obstacles in the way of war of less magnitude than is now presented by them. The area of the Pacific Ocean, it is to be remembered, is greater than the whole land surface of the globe. The distances to be traversed in the event of war by warships or transports would be enormously great. The radius of action of a modern ship is, however, limited. It hag been pointed out, for instance, that a largo destroyer can steam for a period of only about seventy hours, and no larger ship could cross ‘and re-cross the Pacific without replenishing her bunkers with coal or her reservoirs with oil. This implies that, before there can be war, the whole aspect of the Pacific must be changed. The routes along which warships or transports have to pass must be furnished with bases of supply. The decision of the Washington Conference, as expressed in the Pacific Treaty, amounts simply to this, that they agree, jointly and severally, that they shall not incur the vast expense to which they would be put in establishing, furnishing, and maintaining these bases of supply. The agreement is one that is welcome to their peoples groaning under a burden of taxation that, as it is, is crippling industry and forbidding enterprise, but it is doubly welcome in the respect that it recognises and typifies the new spirit that has taken possession of the world—; a spirit which is exhibited in the satisfaction that is expressed over the reduction of armaments and in the support that is given to organisations like the League of Nations for the prevention of war.

THE IRISH SITUATION. Thb outward manifestations unfortunately suggest that the situation in Ireland is going from bad to worse. So far as the record of disturbing events is a reliable guide a stage within the transition period is approaching which, unless some effective intervention is brought about without much further delay, may render the task of pacification one of the utmost difficulty. The sporadic fires which are now being recorded seem to harbour the menace of a conflagration calculated to obscure almost entirely the hopes reposed in the treaty of settlement. The Free State Government may be powerless to achieve any more than it is doing to suppress the border troubles and the provocative acta of the Republican bands. It may, with its present powers, find itself in a position of real difficulty in combatting the, reckless endeavour which is being made to wreck the whole scheme of Irish settlement, that part of it applying to Ulster included. But it is impossible to disregard the increasing gravity of the internal symptoms in Ulster. The record furnished in the cablegrams is, of, course, one of events rather than of circumstances associated with those events. The significance of these events must, therefore, be to some extent a matter of inference. It is stated, however, that the tension between Protestants and Catholics within Ulster is increasing hourly. Unfortunately this appears to b© more than an idle generalisation and to be borne out by the actual happenings. The accounts of deeds of violence and of reprisals at Belfast furnish arresting revelations of the existence of an acute state of party feeling. It is impossible to ignore the manner in which the intrusion, of religious sentiment, as a Strife-creating, factor in the situation, is indicated. The possibility of the development of events in Ulster, reflecting beyond everything else the bitterness bora of religioug differences, is fraught with grave danger. Where so many influences that create discord are at work the stimulation of this one in particular is disquietingly ominous. The chronicle of the last two or three days is such that it is not surprising to read that Sir Nevil Macready regards the situation as most serious. It is reported, moreover, that the British Government has sent an urgent request to Sir James Craig, Premier of Northern Ireland, for his presence in order that its examination of every aspect of the position may be facilitated, and it is anticipated also that Mr Michael Collins, Minister of in the Free State Cabinet, will go to London immediately. There is need for all the promptitude possible in devising means of coping with the rebirth of terrorism in Ireland. The endeavour will apparently be made to bring the heads of the Northern and v Southern Irish Governments into consultation once more with a view to the discussion of measures for the restoration of order upon the Ulster border. Both Lord Birkenhead and Mr Winston Churchill have suggested that the establishment, by mutual agreement, of a neutral zone along the frontier may be necessary and that this zone would be under military occupation. Whether it came to that or not, it is devoutly to be hoped that the respective Governments may, jointly as well as separately, be able to take such action as will put an end to the present dangerous state of affairs. And, so far as religious feeling may be tending in an increasing measure to accentuate the trouble in Ulster, it is to be hoped that the churches will be found exerting their influence to calm that spirit of extreme intolerance, with its mischief-making results, wnich seems to have been aroused.