WORLD PEACE

Otago Witness, Issue 3881, 31 July 1928, Page 30

WORLD PEACE

SIGNING OF THE PACT.'

PROBABLY IN AUGUST. LONDON, July 25. Assuming that President Coolidge supports Mr Kellogg’s idea of signing the Peace Pact at Paris it is likely to be done in the last week of August, when all the foreign secretaries will be en route to the Assembly at Geneva. , -* BRITISH NOTE TO AMERICA. RUGBY, July 25. In the House of Commons to-day Sir Austen Chamberlain stated that he had had no communication from the United States Government up to the present iu reply to his Note of July 18 accepting the proposed treaty for the renunciation of war as. an instrument of national policy. RIGHT OF SELF-DEFENCE. LONDON, July 25. In the House of Commons Sir R. J. Thomas inquired what reductions were proposed in the navy estimates as the result of the Kellogg pact. Mr W. C. Bridgeman said that the Admiralty had not begun to consider the next estimates, and it would be most unusual to announce in advance what the Amiralty was likely to do. The paet did not affect the national right :o provide self-defence. It was on that basis tSat the Cabinet was finally guided in fixing the navy estimates. SOVIET VIEW OF PACT. BERLIN, July 25. The Berliner Tageblatt publishes an article from a Moscow correspondent, Paul Scheffer, anent the Soviet attitude toward the Kellog Pact. It expresses opinions which are presumably those of Scheffer himself, but it is possible to read in them an Expression of the official Soviet view. Scheffer considers that such a pact must remain an empty formula if it lacks the Soviet and he Bug-

gests guardedly that Moscow would gladly adhere, to it if it was sure that no opposition would arise. Undoubtedly the United States desires - the Russians’ adherence, but it cannot make an approach, as theoretically the Soviet Government does not exist in the eyes of Washington. Scheffer says that he has not the doubt that the Soviet’s present desire is peace. She is more to blame for the hostile words and actions of others than she admits, but decisive factors are the insecurity of the Soviet Union and the possibility that the next storm to burst .on this* front will extend everywhere. The fear of encirclement is a real spectre.in Moscow, and accordingly greater is the inducement to accompany the Powers on the road to friendship and play a part on the world stage as an equal among equals. The deep scepticism overloading the Kremlin regarding the Soviet foreign relations causes the preparation of the party and the masses for the coming war “ against the proletarian state.” Just as the Soviet urgently wishes to relieve the tension in and about Russia arising from the nightmare of war, so is the question a decisive and more pressing one for Europe, because it is gradually blocking the way to -a settlement with the red and mysterious East. There is activity in the west over the “ organisation for peace,” the correspondent proceeds, simultaneously with the retrogression to war and anarchy in the eastern _ half ,of Europe. The Kellogg Pact is possibly the last chance to arrest this process and give a turn for the better. The Soviet, by entering the ranks of the Pact Powers, would gain a more active interest in entering the League, which is an American conception of thorough ingenuousness and simplicity, and would bring it nearer to its original task—namely, the maintenance of peace.

AFFIXING OF SIGNATURES. PARIS, July 27. The Kellogg paet will be signed here on August 27.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. ' LONDON, July 27. Although official circles in London late this afternoon only know that the Peace * Pact will be signed in Paris in the last week in August, a French semi-official announcement fixes August 27 as the date and this is generally accepted, as it fits in conveniently with the Foreign Minister’s journey to Geneva to participate in the Council meeting on August 30. Official circles express a keen desire that Australia and New Zealand should sign separately, and express appreciation of their unquestioning trust in Britain as a medium in the preliminary discussions. The gathering at Paris will have a special interest, as Dr Stresemann’s visit be the first by a German Foreign Minister since the war. The onlyabsentees are likely to be Signor Mussolini and the Japanese Minister. CANADA’S SIGNATURE. T . OTTAWA, July 28. It is understood that the Premier, Mr Mackenzie King, will go to Paris personally to sign the Kellogg Treaty for Canada, and also to inaugurate the Canadian Legation. He will then proceed to Geneva to represent Canada at the Council of thj. League and attend the League assembly.