COLLECTIVE SECURITY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23332, 26 October 1937, Page 10

COLLECTIVE SECURITY

INTERNATIONAL AIR FORCE SUGGESTION TO LEAGUE DR R. M. CAMPBELL ON REFUGEES (From Our Own Correspondent) (By Air Mail) LONDON, Sept. 29. At the request of the New Zealand delegation for the present session of the League of Nations at Geneva the following resolution, unanimously adopted by the New Commonwealth Conference, was published in the daily Journal of the Assembly;— “ Realising the urgency of immediate action to reinforce the system of collective security, this conference resolves to ask the League of Nations to invite the head of each State or his representative to attend a meeting to discuss ways and means of forming an international air force. Mr Jordan, representing New Zealand at Geneva, who expressed himself openly in favour of an international police force and advocated the establishment of an international police force last year, be invited to submit this resolution before the League.” Dr R. M. Campbell, economic adviser to the High Commissioner, who is also a member of the New Zealand delegation, spoke at a meeting of the Sixth Committee when the future of the Nansen office, which has been responsible for the political and legal protection of refugees since 1930, was being discussed. In 1930 it was proposed that the woific of the office should be completed by the end of 1938. Mr Koht (Norway), at the meeting of the Sixth Committee, proposed that a plan for co-ordinating the whole work of assistance to refugees be prepared and that the question should be considered by a sub-committee comprised of the representatives, of 16 States.

Dr Campbell said that the New Zealand Government would deplore any diminution in the efforts made by, or under the supervision of, the League of Nations for the assistance of refugees, whether these were the responsibility of the Nansen International Office or of the High Commissioner for Refugees coming from Germany. They would be happy to collaborate with other members of the League in devising the best means possible for continuing this work, and. in default of any better solution, would be quite prepared to support an extension of the period of activity of the existing organisations, so long as they could continue to perform a useful function. Accordingly, New Zealand supported the proposal advanced by the representative of Norway. Dr Campbell also said that the work done was clearly worth while, and the care and competence with which it was administered were most impressive. It appeared that a supplementary credit of 104,000 francs had been asked for. This was a matter which would apparently have to be decided by the Supervisory Commission and the Assembly, but so far as the present committee was concerned, he hoped, in view of the universal goodwill felt towards the work, that this sum would be agreed to.