SUPREME WAR COUNCIL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25101, 17 December 1942, Page 5

SUPREME WAR COUNCIL

IMPRACTICABLE PROPOSAL RUGBY, Dec. 15. The Secretary for the Dominions. Mr C R Attlee, in the course of an address to the Royal Empire referred to the requests for the setting up of a Supreme Imperial War Cabinet. He said that sometimes in the House of Commons a questioner' would go further and ask for the establishment of a Supreme War Council of all the Allies. “It sounds nice and logical, but unfortunately it is completely impracticable,” Mr Attlee said. “Imagine representatives of all the Allied nations sitting'round a table deciding day-to-day problems of the war. or even just major problems. Imagine the difficulty of reaching a decision and the clash of opinions of the great retinue of officials who would be in attendance. In war, decision, and rapid decision, is necessary. You cannot conduct war by means of a mass meeting. There is a further objection. It is impossible for responsible leaders of their people to be continuously absent from their own countries, nor can they give plenary powers to someone to represent them in a supreme council.” Mr Attlee recalled that m 1917 and 1918 there were meetings of the Imperial War Cabinet, but these were much more like the meetings of Imperial conferences that had taken place from time to time in the last 20 years. The British Government would be glad to hold such a conference, but up to now it had not been possible to secure the attendance of all the Prime Ministers of the dominions at the same lime.