THE LEAGUE'S PROCEDURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22709, 23 October 1935, Page 8

THE LEAGUE'S PROCEDURE

The fact that the League of Nations is now launched as it were upon an uncharted sea, that it is acting or proposing to act in circumstances of which it has had no previous experience, is being somewhat unfortunately illustrated in its procedure in relation to the application of sanctions. No doubt there is ground for the suggestion that the League is now reaping the penalty of its neglect in the past to consider how economic sanctions may be practically applied. On the other hand, it must be conceded, in fairness to the League, that it was not foreseen that the delays attending its procedure would occur. It is almost three weeks since the Italian offensive began in Abyssinia, and so laboriously has the League's mechanism moved, what with the deliberations over the naming of Italy as an aggressor State and the question of taking measures under Article 16 of the Covenant, that there is no expectation that sanctions will be brought into actual collective operation before the end of the present month. The Sanctions Co-ordination Committee is to meet on October 29 to fix the date when the measures will be applied. That means that Italy will have been conducting her operations for four weeks at least unhampered by definite action on the League's part, and it remains still uncertain when such action will take concrete form. It is the way of an aggressor State to act swiftly. Clearly the usefulness of the League must depend in a highly important degree upon its ability to act swiftly also in the institution of counter measures. Within the time which ( the League has already taken over its deliberations since Italy fired the first shot a great and decisive battle might have been fought, securing the aggressor State its objective. The conflict in Abyssinia promises to be protracted, but the circumstances might easily have been different. It is experience that teaches, and in the light of the happenings at Geneva the conclusion seems irresistible that the provisions of the League Covenant will have to be tightened up, and the machinery lubricated to allow of more expedition in the future in the use of the processes of the League against aggressor nations. Moreover, the provisions of the Covenant are not watertight. The difficulty of securing unity in accordance with the stipulations of the Covenant among fifty odd nations has been made apparent. Not a few States, it has been pointed out, will be outside "the practical sanctioning ring." When the economic sanctions come into operation Italy may not be able to obtain all the supplies which she requires, but she will not in any circumstances be subjected to an absolute boycott. The purpose of League sanctions, however, is to achieve the application of a pressure that will bring the war to an end as quickly as possible. The importance attaching to a successful demonstration of the League's power in the interests of peace is too apparent to require emphasis.