EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

Southland Times, Issue 20642, 14 November 1928, Page 7

EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

BRITAIN’S POSITION REVIEW BY FOREIGN SECRETARY INDIVIDUAL INTEREST URGED (United Press Assn. —By Telegraph—Copyright.) (Rec. 9.45 p.m.) Ottawa, November 12. Addressing the Canadian Club Sir Austen Chamberlain reviewed European conditions leading up to the Treaty of Locarno and pleaded for the people of British dominions to interest themselves in foreign affairs so that the politics of London might represent not only the British Government but also respond to sentiment in all constituent parts of the Empire. Outlining fears after the war in Europe and prior to the famous meetings, he said the increase in armaments was not due to a further desire for military glory, but to a fear which reigned at the seats of government and in the hearts of the peasants. He explained the rejection by the Baldwin Government of the Protocol of Geneva, negotiated by Mr Ramsay Macdonald, and said that such an agreement would have entirely altered the character of the League of Nations, making it an instrument of war rather than an agency for the preservation of peace. The League would have become a super-State, infringing and over-riding the rights of the sovereign States which belonged to it. Great Britain could not be indifferent to conditions on the Continent of Europe, for in the past disinterest always resulted in misfortune and disaster. However, the position of Britain was still to a certain extent one of detachment, since the people of the dominions were further off and saw European affairs in a truer light. “You bring the opinions of the new world to correct the errors of the old, thus the British Commonwealth of Nations brings a contribution to the peace of the world which no other Power can bring,” he said.—Australian Press Association—United Service.