Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, JULY 23, 1928 MOBILISATION FOR PEACE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16704, 23 July 1928, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED E VERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, JULY 23, 1928 MOBILISATION FOR PEACE

The opinion of the nations has been slowly but surely mobilising to avert the danger of another world catastrophe. It is realised that the best memorial that can be raised in recognition of the sacrifice of millions of the nations' finest manhood in the Great War is a solemn undertaking on the part of.the nations engaged in that strife that war shall be renounced as an instrument for the settlement of international disputes. The pact which the principal nations have now announced their intention to sign is an honorable and practical attempt to give effect to the common desire of the .peoples that there shall be no war, and 'as such its ratification and signature will become a most momentous event in the history of civilisation. The Pact is not a lengthy document, but. a simple straightforward declaration against war, easily understood, and Without hidden meaning. Its essence is the total prohibition of war as an instrument of national policy. If a nation is attacked it will have the right to use any means to defend itself, but once the attack is repelled it must submit the matter at issue to settlement by pacific means and not try to impose its own will by war. It will never be lawful for any nation or combination of nations to use war as an instrument for getting its own way. These are the basic principles of the agreement. They are complementary to the Covenant of the League of Nations and to the Pact of Locarno. The former provided for judicial decision through the International Court of Arbitration and prohibited members going to war until pacific procedure had been followed for nine months. The latter Mas an agreement between certain nations renouncing war between themselves. The United States, though its former President was mainly responsible for the Covenant of the League, could not see its way to become a party thereto, but now after eight years of isolation it has through the Kellogg proposal evinced a desire to co-operate with the rest of the world for the maintenance of peace. War has been made illegal, and if, as is pointed out to-day, the United States and Britain put their ban upon it and refuse to supply funds war will become impossible." It is not suggested that the completion of the agreement will immediately lead to disarmament, though it may help towards that end. '' Force,'' says a writer in the Hound Table, "will inevitably remain a vital element in international affairs. There is an obvious difference between war and police action. Police action would be taken by one or more nations to prevent a state from taking the law into its own hands and to compel it to refer the issue to some form of pacific settlement." Another question raised is how are the backward and weak to be protected against exploitation, and the answer is that once the nations begin to. meet regularly together to discuss their common problems a code will rapidly grow up, the nucleus of which already exists in the mandate system. Wliat about self-defence? Every nation will have exactly the same' right of self defence as every individual has in a civilised state today. If it is attacked it will defend itself. But it will not be entitled to go on to settle the quarrel by war. The renunciation of war ought to lead to a rapid reduction of armaments. But limitation will clearly be in proportion to the growth of confidence that nations will live up to their undertaking not to use war. It is abundantly clear, adds the Round Table writer, that the proposal constitutes a now and immensely important stage in the movement to end war. If it succeeds it will be the keystone to the Covenant. But the road to success, will not be an easy one. It is necessary to have public opinion strongly behind the basic idea. Unless the nations, having signed the treaty, can be just and public, spirited in their dealing's with one .another the attempt to outlaw war is sure to fail. It may take years for the European nations to realise that jf they are to have security of peace they must first genuinely turn their backs on practically their entire past and renounce absolutely the right to use war as a means of policy. It may take time for the Unitod States to realise that if the renunciation of war is to be effective it will be only because she is

willing to renounce her isolation and help to construct and submit to a pacific system under which all' international questions, her own included, will be referred to impartial investigation and report, and be decided on the bat is of reason and justice. What will prevent war among the signatories to the Pact will be their continued loyalty to the principles underlying Western civilisation and their joint, determination to maintain those principles without compromise. Even though the outlawry system should meet with difficulties and perhaps occasionally break down, the risk of war will grow progressively loss. "Whereas to-day there is a continuous risk of war because it is lawful to use war after certain delays, once law is outlawed by public opinion as well as by treaty that risk will only appear through the failure of pacific procedure and the consequent growth of conditions so intolerable that public opinion among the co-signatory nations will be so sympathetic as to allow a nation to redress its grievances, with impunity." It has been suggested by the London Observer that the day when the Pact is signed will become so memorable that it should be signalised by an international holiday. There is no world festival in the calendar. Till now its inauguration has been impossible since then> was no world event to celebrate. But the Pact will open a new era. Let it be marked by one day on which all the- world over the nations shall solemnly contemplate the blessing which this generation has assured to posterity. "The day the Pact is signed," says the Observer, "should see the world notified of the date dedicated for ever to its memory, on which it shall everywhere be proclaimed, with a truth hidden even from Shelley's vision, that —

The world's great age begins anew, The golden years return."