BRITAIN AND AMERICA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20690, 12 April 1929, Page 10

BRITAIN AND AMERICA

POSSIBILITY OF WAR. THE IDEA INCONCEIVABLE. FRIENDLY ATTITUDE OF UNITED STATES. (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, April 11. The firm opinion that war between America and Great Britain was inconceivable was expressed by Mr Donald M'Kinnon, for some time Australian trade representative in the United States, when speaking at a luncheon tendered to him to-day by the Wellington branch of the English-speaking Union. In introducing the speaker, Mr A, L. Hunt, who presided, said that there had been a lot of irritating statements in the newspapers lately about the relations between America and Great Britain, Personally he could hardly contain himself when he read some of the articles which were apparently written with the sole object of stirring the minds of the people against America, They had, for instance, the suggestion that America was anxious to claim the whole of Antarctica. That was rubbish. He hoped Mr M‘Kinnon would be able to assure them that the articles which had been written did not express the mind of the American people. • Mr M'Kinnon said there was a good deal of prejudice against America in Australia, but he did not think it was as great as it was in New Zealand, He had lived for 18 months in the United States and had mixed with all sections of the people, and he had never received anything but courtesy. His experience was that the American people held New Zealand and Australia in the highest regard, and the same applied to the British Empire as a whole. The American people generally took a pride in the rapid development which was going on in Australia and New Zealand. It was a fact that one heard more ill-feeling among British people about America than one found among American people about Great Britain. The King’s illness had been far more sympathetically referred to by the reputable American newspapers than by the newspapers of Australia and New Zealand. America, continued Mr M'Kinnon, held the highest opinion of the manner in which Great Britain had come out of the war and the manner in which she had settled her many difficulties, notably the Egyptian and Irish questions. There were always people in every country who were willing to stir up trouble, and it was a matter of deep regret to him that so noted a preacher as the Rev. R. J. Campbell should make the statement that war between Great Britain and America was not inconceivable. “ I can tell you that war won’t come,” said Mr M'Kinnon, “Even if Great Britain wanted war, America would not fight, for America knows that war would mean the end of the British people. The Americans hate war. They had amongst them the greatest war prior to the world war, and they lost over a million of their own people. All the coercion in the world will not bring them into war with Great Britain. It is inconceivable. I don’t believe for a moment that Britain would ever go to war with America. Wc still have the experiences of the Great War before us, and the influence of women to-day is 'sufficiently strong to ensure that there would not be another. I hope the English-speaking Union will not be discouraged by these little bickerings.” Proposing a vote of thanks to the speaker, Sir Frederick Chapman said he had received considerable enlightenment from what he had heard from Mr M'Kinnon. He was afraid the cablegrams they received in New Zealand told them only one side of the story. They never heard the bright side, and it was a great encouragement to hear the opinions of such an authority as Mr M'Kinnon. Personally, he had always regarded war with America as out of the question.