THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1925. THE LEAGUE AND SECURITY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19584, 14 September 1925, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1925. THE LEAGUE AND SECURITY.

Mrt Austen- Chamberlain actually made his funeral oration over the Peace Protocol before the Council of the League of Nations .six months ago, and his references to the subject at Geneva within the last few days liave evidently been actuated by a desire that the larger audience of delegates attending the Assembly of the League, which is now in session, should receive a correct interpretation of the attitude of Great Britain. The reasons why Great Britain and the British dominions do not regard the Protocol as a satisfactory instrument for the securing of the ends which they, in common with other adherents of the League, have in view, have been perhaps sufficiently traversed. Respecting their conclusiveness from the standpoint of the British Common* wealth no doubt remains. To all intents and purposes the Protocol" is now a document of merely historic interest. That is not to say that a good deal more may not be heard of it as a basis of further discussion. It may have been noted that Mr Chamberlain's criticism of the Protocol before the Assembly was limited to a general questioning of its harmony with the broad principles which, he suggests fairly enough, should underlie an international instrument of such importance. The brilliant speech of M. Boncour may stimulate the hopes of the admirers of the Protocol, but the suggestion that it may even start an "avalanche" in favour of the resurrection of the Protocol need not he taken very seriously. A criticism of Great Britain's attitude on the score of lack of comprehension of events during the post-war period comes rather curiously from France, and is coloured no doubt by that nation's absorbing interest in the problem of her own security. It will be unfortunate, however, if any further controversy is created over the defunct Protocol. Mr Chamberlain's exposition of Great Britain's position in relation to the objects for which the League exists should ere this have cleared away any real misunderstanding that may have existed. The main consideration is that the nations comprising the League should be as one in their earnest desire to secure the objects of their common platform, which, in Mr Chamberlain's words, are "disarmament through security and security through arbitration." The discussions inaugurated once again at Geneva last week have an encouraging ring in their revelation of an atmosphere that is distinctly favourable towards the creation of .safeguards against future wars. It is natural enough, no doubt, that some disappointment should be expressed that the League is not making more rapid progress towards the attainment cf its great objective. But the complexity of the problem that is to be dealt with i.s very great, and the League's policy, concerning which there is no controversy, is one that can only be carried out, as M. Painleve wisely observed, "in the course of time, by patient and constant endeavour." Nothing is more certain, and nothing

should be more apparent, than that Great, Britain and the dominions of the British Empire are not less anxious than other nations to promote peace and security on earth. They differ from some other nations in respect of this matter only as regards the methods that should he adopted. "What these methods should be is a problem which it should not be beyond the combined wisdom of the representatives of the nations to solve satisfactorily. The present Assembly at Geneva has yet to give its specific attention to the question of arbitration and security, and it would appear that the terms in which the question is to be presented to it are likely to reflect the progress of the negotiations between France and Great Britain on the one hand, and Germany on the other hand respecting the suggested Pact of Security.