LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Otago Witness, Issue 3574, 12 September 1922, Page 19

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

INAUGURAL SERMON. GENEVA, September 3. He Archbishop of Canterbury delivered to the League of Nations the famngpral sermon in the Cathedral of 8t Pierre. The Earl of Balfour read the lemons Many of the delegates were present. Dr Davidson said he believed that the League might go far to make the Kingdom of God a reality, in our lifetime, but it was vain to talk of the righteousness of God whilst the monstrous arbitrament of war was impending. ' The foremost thinkers, statesmen, and rulers of Christendom had thrown their strength into devising plans to make war impossible. Meantime, they might surely say that militarism had fashioned its coffin, and they were there to clinch the nails. Some nations are not paying their contributions, and others are paying them on the reduced scale proposed last year, bot which is still not validated. The League authorities are in a serious quandary. They are disinclined to insist on a higher scale. They cannot enforce payments, even in the case of defaulters. The Australian Press Association is informed that a very grave question which is facing the League of Nations in the coming year is that of finance, because its resources are shrinking, while its activities are expanding. GERMANY WILL NOT APPLY. LONDON September 4. The Daily News’s Geneva correspondent states that Germany will not apply for membership of the League of Nations. The Little Entente and Sweden are applying for two of the four vacancies. China will probably drop out. PERUVIAN DELEGATES WITHDRAW. Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina, and Bolivia are not represented on the League of Nations. Peru is holding off until the election of president. If Senor Edwards, of Chile, is chosen she will not take part. A later message announces that Senor Edwards, of Chile, was elected President of the League Assembly, whereupon the Peru delegation withdrew. The Australian Press Association’s Geneva correspondent states that the opening of the A ssembly occupied only half an hour. Delegates then adjourned to enable a committee to examine delegates’ credentials, which examination is understood to be more critical than hitherto. . Senor Da Gama, Brazilian Ambassador in London, presided nending the election of a President. He vigorously repudiated the allegations that the league was dead. MANDATED TERRITORIES. LONDON, September 4. The Australian Press Association’s Genova correspondent states that the chairman of the Council submitted a report prepared by the secretariat, embodying the substance of the various reports and other documents relating to the administration of the mandated territories, including Nauru and New Guinea, together with the chairman’s observations on them. Had the Council adopted them it would have meant the adoption of the Commission’s criticisms and the chairman’s conclusions accepting and emphasising the criticisms. This the Earl of Balfour's intervention prevented. The report will now be presented to the Assemble without the Council’s ratification or disapproval. The report acknowledges the receipt of the commentaries by Sir Joseph Cook in reference to Nauru and the matters under reference to the Japanese, both replying to the Mandatory Commission’s criticisms at the Geneva meeting in August, but it does not quote or even indicate their nature. Referring to uuemplovment and indentured labour in the mandated territories, the Pacific report endorses the Mandatory Commission's opinion expressed at the Geneva meeting, and concurs with the recommendations requiring more complete information in that connection in , future. It also demanded further information defining the exact status of Nauru. The chairman’s report continues: “The reports of the debates to which the situation in Nauru has given rise in 1922 have excited general interest. The Council desires to associate itself with the hope expressed bv the Mandatory Commission that subsequent information will clear up the points which still seem obscure, and definitely to allay the anxiety which has been shown.” The Earl of Ralfour said he was not prepared to adopt the criticism of the administration of the mandated territories by any pa-rt- of the British Empire, because he had not had an opportunity of seeing the evidence on which the criticism was founded or of rebutting the evidence. The chairman explained that the object of tiie report was to draw tile attention of the mandatory Powers to certain matters. The Earl of Balfour replied that if com ment was confined to drawing attention to the,se matters he would not object to the report being received, but be made it clear that be declined to be associated with a judgment which he had not had an op portunity of investigating, particularly if it implied anv criticism in reference to anv part of the British Empire. The chairman replied that tile Council ■was not associated with the criticism. It merely passed it on to the Assembly. The Earl of Balfour thereupon withdrew Iris apposition and the report was adopted.

AUSTRALIA'S POSITION CHALLENGED. GENEVA, September 5. The Council of the League of Nations has circulated the reports from the Permanent Mandates Commission upon which the Secretariat bases its report, which was reoeived. The Commission reiterates the conviction that Chinese labourers accompanied by their wives constitute a grave social danger to the native populations. The Chinese coolie is under a three years’ contract thousands of miles from home, and this question demands the greatest administrative care. The Commission also challenges the validity of Australia’s administration of Nauru, because British mandates of this class were conferred on the King, hut in all cases except Nauru it was expressly stated that the King acted on behalf of the Australian, South African, or New Zealand Government. There was no such reservation in the case of Nauru. The Commission was, therefore, bound to consider that Nauru was under a mandate of the Empire as a whole, not of a particular Government within the Emoire. The Commission points out that while Mr Hughes telegraphed on July 28 Sir Joseph Cook’s appointment as commonwealtli representative in reference to Nauru, the Secretary of the Imperial Cabinet notified the League of Nations on July 31 that Sir Joseph Cook had been the accredited representative of the Empire. The Commission emphasised the point that, although Australia was not designated with mandatory power for Nauru, the administration of the island is exercised de facto by the Australian Government. Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland completed the New Zealand delegation to-day. Mr Justice Rich (Australia) is expected to-mor-row. AUSTRALIA AND NAURU. LONDON, September 6. The Mandates Commission report draws attention to the fact that the Commission learnt at the August meeting in Genev' that certain arrangements were made assigning mandatory powers over Nauru to Australia, but these agreements were not notified to the League of Nations. ARTICLE 10 TO BE AMENDED. GENEVA, September 6. Clause 10 of the League’s Covenant, which met strong opposition in America, is likely to be amended bv the substitution of regional guarantees under which nations having mutual obligations to each other should be grouped. LORD ROBERT CECIL’S APPEAL. LONDON. September 6. The Australian Press correspondent at Geneva states that Lord Robert Cecil, when discussing the Council’s annual report, made an impassioned appeal for increased activities on the part of the League in the promotion of the settlements of international feuds. He admitted that the League’s province was to promote a new peace, not to clear no old feuds—legacies of the great war. Nevertheless, he contended that it was impossible for the League to ignore international quarrels which delayed peace, instancing the Orseco-Turkish war, concerning which there had been international negotiations but no appeal to the League to intervene. Lord Robert Cecil considered that the League should have carried out such negotiations, or they should have been conducted by other organisations under the supervision of the League. Similarly in regard to Russia, he regretted that the League had not intervened in a more decisive manner in connection with the famine. Had the League done so it might have mitigated the horrors and opened the door to a renewal of intercourse between Russia and the other nations without raising the political and economic questions which had defied setttloment at Genoa and The Hague. Russian and Austrian conditions were only part of the economic crisis affecting the whole world. A competent authority had stated that the fall of the mark had by no means reached its limit. It was only a question of a few months before the financial situation of Germany would approximate that of Austria, and this would react not only upon the rest of Europe, but upon every country in the world. Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland submitted a resolution for future consideration, demanding intervention to check the recrudescence of slavery in Africa since the war. SIR JOSEPH COOK’S DEFENCE. GENEVA, September 7. Sir Joseph Cook, in replying to the Permanent Mandates Commission’s report, which the Council is distributing among the League of Nations delegates, denies that Australia was merely the de facto administrator of Nauru. He detailed the circumstances under which the Nauru Island agreement was reached in July. 1919, and pointed out that Australia is now acting as agent for the British Empire, which is a mandatory authority. Regarding phosphates, Sir Joseph Cook says that the Commission’s observations on Article 13 of the Nauru agreement are based on an assumption which does not exist. The Nauru Commissioners are independent of Government control in working, selling, and shipping the phosphates, but not otherwise. The Commissioners’ position is analogous to tlia-t of the directors of a company, who are responsible to the shareholders. Similarly the Commissioners are responsible to the Governments concerned, and are not independent of control. Tn regard to the conditions of labour, there is no reason therefore, for perturbation that the Commissioners are independent of administrative control. Referring to the. Mandates Comm issi on’s doubts whether the monopoly of phosphates “is fully in keeping with the disinterested spirit which should characterise the mission of a mandatory State/’ Sir

Joseph Cook says that the Governments concerned have created no monopoly, but have acquired a better opportunity of looking after the interests of the natives. No_ profit remains to the Governments. The principal benefit to Australia and New Zealand is from assured supplies at prices which are not liable to be raised by world monopolies. Concerning Chinese labour, Sir Joseph Cook confines himself to the following brief statement:—“Prior to the war the Pacific Phosphate Company employed about 500 Chinese at Nauru, but during the war, owing to the diminished output, the number of Chinese was reduced ; while in 1920 between 300 and 400 were introduced from China. ” The Marquis Theodoli, chairman of the Permanent Mandates Commission, stated at the Geneva meeting in August that the deepest concern was felt as to whether the well being and development of the inhabitants of the island were in danger of being compromised. To this Sir Joseph Cook replies: “There is not the slightest justification for this concern. Whatever wealth is contained in the island is used, first, for the better treatment of the natives, and, secondly, for the benefit of the people of the world. Since no profit is made there is no motive for subordinating tho interests of the people to the exploitation of wealth as suggested. The exploitation is solely in the interests of the people, and there is no motive to do otherwise. BANKRUPT AUSTRIA. LONDON, September 7. The Australian Press Association’s Geneva correspondent states that the pitiable condition of Austria and the abject misery of its starving popnlation, by which they are becoming a menace to Europe, formed the burden of to-day’s speeches at the Assembly. M. Motta (Switzerland) thanked God that there was a League of Nations to deal with this problem, which had been referred to the League by the Conference of Prime Ministers in London. Dr Nansen (Norway) said that Europe was in a deplorable state, and it was getting worse daily. Norway, although a neutral country, was equally involved with the Allies in the ruin which was overtaking industries. There was no salvation for Europe outside the League. The Australian Press Association’s Geneva correspondent states that Count Mensdorff, formerly Austrian Ambassador in London, warned the League of Nations that the world dare not permit the existence at the heart of Europe of a centre of disorder and disorganisation where once it was the centre of culture. He endorsedthe declaration of Dr Seipel (Chancellor), that, while Austria was willing to concede control over her economic resources to the Powers which provided assistance, she would rather become absorbed in another great nation than sacrifice her independence. M. Motta assured Austria that her territorial integritv and political independence would be maintained. I RANGE AND THE LEAGUE. LONDON, September 8. Mr Lloyd George will probably proceed to Geneva in time to participate in the closing sessions. The Daily Telegraph’s Geneva correspondent states that if Mr Lloyd George attends M. Poincare also will attend, thus making the first occasion on which tho two Prime Ministers will have taken part in the, League’s annual Parliament. A most important point is the indication of a remarkable change in the French attitude towards the League which was undeniably unfavourable in the earlier davs. The correspondent adds: “If my information is correct, the French Government is now willing that the activities of the League should be widely extended, becoming more or less a sole international body dealing with the world’s affairs. It is even stated that France is willing to see the Reparations Commission abolished and its functions transferred to the League of Nations. France believes that she might receive more reparation payments from the League than from the Commission, and this would he even more likelv if Germany were admitted as a member.” IRELAND DEMANDS ADMISSION. LONDON, September 8. The Daily News states that the Irish representatives demand the admission of Ireland to the League on the ground that it will finally demonstrate throughout the world Ireland’s new status. The present difficulty is the unra.tified treaty .and the unformulated constitution. Britain will support the demand after the treaty is ratified. The Americans here declare that Ireland’s admission will do more for the cause of the League in America than Germany’s admission would do. SPEECH BY LORD BALFOUR. LONDON, September 8. The Australian Press Association’s Geneva correspondent says: The Earl of Balfour spoko for an hour in defence of the League’s activities in the past, and in explanation of the limitations of the present, and in advocacy of increased powers for the future. Referring to Lord Robert Cecil’s criticism of the League’s helplessness in the presence of the war in the Near East, and his demand that if the League was to justify its existence it must in future be all or nothing, Lord Balfour said that the Council was constitutionally incapable of intervening. Furthermore, the League possessed neither money, ships, nor men. Nevertheless, it had an increasing moral influence. He hoped that material authority would develop by evolutionary processes. Meanwhile the League must content itself with its moral influence to promote peace. The founders of the League were concerned only with preserving the pence which they had imagined would be established. In tho winding up of the war, of which the present Near East conflict was practically a continuation, they thought they were removing the debris of the war and

rearranging the map of in conformity with the wishes of the populations. Not any of the statesmen or publicists of the world then foresaw the calamitous struggle now proceeding in the Near East. The League was not armed with machinery capable of ending the Great War, of which the struggle now proceeding was probably the last episode. It was not to deal with that kind of crisis that the League was created. Even regarding the functions with which the League was endowed, it was not efficiently equipped. Its authority was now greater than before, but it was still miserablv equipped owing to the mere want of money, which prevented the doing of many things that it wished to do and was constitutionally authorised to do. Lord Robert Cecil seemed to think that the League should assume national obligations and should supersede foreign offices and war offices. He warned Lord Robert Cecil and similar critics that if the League were ever to reach that height it must be by slow stages, by remodelling its machinery, by building achievement upon achievement, and by gaining increased confidence. It> would he madness to act prematurely, for they would rush into catastrophe. If they used an imperfect instrument which broke in their hands, it would ruin the League. Lord Balfour said there, was no possibility of examining or refuting the allegations referring to Dr Nansen’s criticism of the League’s inactivity during the Russian famine and plague. He stated that everybody, including the League, the vari ous Governments, and charitable and public organisations, had been hampered by the knowledge that the contributions would be administered bv the Russian Government, in whom nobody had con fidence. The Soviet had the command of gold which it could applv to the relief of its own people. He admitted that some thing must be done regarding the Russian plague, which was a menace to Europe. Mr Lloyd George had done everything possible, and would have done more but the famine and the plague had coincided with the great coal strike in Britain, which had cost the nation £200,000,000. It was impossible then to forsee the ulti mate development of the strike. Since then the Government had contributed £250,000. The British public had volun tarily subscribed more than any other nation. Tlie Government, furthermore, had offered to subscribe £IOO,OOO if the com

bined nations of the world agreed to contribute £200,000. THE VOLUNTARY HEALTH DEPARTMENT. LONDON, September 9. The Australian Press Association’s Geneva correspondent states that Australians and New Zealanders have been allocated to the following committees:—Constitutional ! and Judicial Committee—Mr Justice Rich, Sir Francis Bell, Mr Boyce: Technical Organisations Committee —Sir Joseph Cook, Sir James Allen, Mr Boyce; the Reduction of Armaments Committee—Sir M. Sheldon, Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland; Finance Committee—Sir James Allen, Sir Joseph Cook, Mr Boyce: Social Problems Committee—Sir M. Sheldon Mr Dale, Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland ; Political Committee, Mr Justice, Rich. Sir Francis Bell, Mr Boyce; Economic Committee—Mr Campion : Health Committee—Sir Joseph Cook, Sir James Allen, Mr Dale. At a meeting of the Health Committee on Friday an effort was made under cover of Lie menace of the Russian epidemics to } transform the voluntary health organisation into a permanent salaried department. Colonel John Ward, Sir .Joseph Cook, Sir James Allen, and Mr Dale opposed tho move. After a strenuous argument, the proposal was defeated on the ground that the voluntary organisation had been satisfactory in the past and that another salaried department was unnecessaary. TRAFFIC IN OPIUM. LONDON. September 8. Tho Australian Press Association’s correspondent at Geneva states that Sir Mark Sheldon and Mr Dale attended the League of Nations’ committee on social problems. It was agreed to urge on all the Governments, including Australia and New Zealand, the immediate adoption of an import and export certificates system as the most practical means of exercising control ■'”” F’' traffic in opium, cocaine, and other dangerous drugs.