BAR TO AMITY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19978, 1 July 1939, Page 5

BAR TO AMITY

BRITISH WARNING DOCTRINE OF FORCE ENVY AND MALICE AI /PERNATIVES URGED PEACEFUL DE VELOP.M ENT (filec. Tel.. Copyright— United Press Assn.) (British OlTieiui Wireless.) Reed. 9 a.m. RUGBY, June 30. During the course of his speech before the Royal Institute of International Officers yesterday, the Foreign Secretary, Viscount Halifax,, stated ..that,. no society;..of. nations L'OUld'be'built upon force in a world' which - lived in fear of violence and had to spend its substance in preparing to resist it.

It was Idle to cry peace where there was no peace, or to pretend to reach a settlement unless it would be guaranteed by a reduction of warlike preparations and by the assured recognition of the right of every nation to the free emjoyment of its independence. - “At this moment, the doctrine of force bars 'the- way Ito settlement and fills the world with envy, hatred, malice and all uncharitableness,” continued Lord Halifax. “But if flic doctrine of force were once abandoned, so that the fear of war that stalks die world was lifted, all the outstanding questions would become easier to solve. If all the efforts now devoted to senseless multiplication of armaments, with a consequent increase of distrust, were applied to the common, peaceful development of resources, the peoples of the world would soon find an incentive to work together, for the common good. Promise of Success “The nations would then be in a position to discuss, with a real promise of success, both political grievances and economic difficulties, whether in the international or the colonial Held.”

Dealing with questions of living space, colonies and raw materials, Lord Halifax recalled the principle enunciated in Article XXII of the League covenant that the well-being and development of people not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world was the sacred trust of civilisation.

He proceeded to sketch the application of that principle of trusteeship in the mandatory system and in the latter-day administrative practice of the British Colonial Empire. The same principle bad, in effect, been applied in broadening freedom in the cases of India, Burma and Eire.

Referring further to Eire, Lord Halifax observed: “For many years we tried, as the phrase went, ‘to hold’ the land under a mistaken belief, which is to-day invoked to justify the subjection of Czechoslovakia, that it was indispensable to our national security, but we have now realised that our safety is not diminished. but is immcasureably increased by a free and friendly Ireland."