WARS IN PACIFIC

Otago Witness, Issue 3829, 2 August 1927, Page 30

WARS IN PACIFIC

TREATY TO ABOLISH. HONOLULU, July 27. Mr H. D. Hall, the Australian delegate, speaking at the Pacific Relations Institute conference, said: “We are deluding ourselves when we say that there is no chance of war in the Pacific.” Mr E. W. Eggleston (late Attorneygeneral for Victoria), criticising the proposed treaty to abolish Pacific wars, which was drafted by Professor Shotwell (Columbia University), declared that a strong nation like the United States could persuade Japan to sign, but a weak one like China could not. He suggested a disarmament Pacific treaty regionally, and urged the institute to consider it. PACIFIC PACT ADVOCATED. AMERICANS NOT ENTHUSIASTIC. HONOLULU, July 27. At the Pacific Relations Institute Mrs Peter Buck, of New Zealand, delivered an address on the training of women in the use of politics as a civic force. The discussion on missionary work in China brought out the general opinion that the old-time mission structure was crumbling, and that there must be a drastic change if Christianity is to survive. The missionary of the future must be better grounded in the history and ideals of China ; also less dogmatic. He must be able to arouse respect for western learning, as well as for religious ideals. In future mi-'cionaries must go to the Orient quite as much to learn as to teach. The institute gave unanimous approval to the proposal that Japan and America should outlaw war between each other. The delegates from these countries, as well as from Britain and Canada, urged a draft pact similar to the Locarno Pact for tho guarantee of future peace in the Pacific. In a discussion on the proposal, Mr Eggleston said that such a treaty should embody a disarmament clause. “The League of Nations will,” he said, “not be be completely successful until it adopts some disarmament plan. I believe disarmament can be considered a regional problem in the Pacific. The distances between countries are so great that the Pacific area is different from other parts of the world.”

Mr Hall said: “We delude ourselves when we say that there is no possibility of war in the Pacific, for the seeds of such a war are here as in Europe. It is time for creating machinery for peace. America is the greatest Power in the Pacific, and might be interested in a Pacific conflict, since she is not a member of the League of Nations, and the four-Power Pact is the weakest argument for the settlement of a Pacific conflict. The minimum requirement of this area is that be no resort to hostility until there has been a thorough investigation.” Sir Arthur Currie endorsed the plan for Canada, but the Americans were less favourable, Mr S. K. Hornbeck -declaring that there was no necessity for such a treaty, and Mrs Catt stating that other treaties must precede it.