LEAGUE UNION

Southland Times, Issue 25309, 12 June 1935, Page 3

LEAGUE UNION

INVERCARGILL BRANCH }. ’/ 1 .ft ’ ANNUAL MEETING A review of the work of the League of Nations in many avenues by the president (Mr C. A. Stewart) was a feature of the annual meeting of the Invercargill branch of the League of Nations Union last evening. Despite the weather conditions there was an attendance of over twenty members. The annual report rtated: “The membership of the branch has remained practically' stationary since last year. The council has not actively canvassed for new members, but with a brighter outlook economically it is putting a plan into operation now by which it is hoped to increase the membership considerably. The main feature of the year has been the work done in the country’ districts. A subbranch was formed at Winton, when the president, Mr Tocker, and tbe secretary addressed a public meeting there at the invitation of the Rev. A. G. Gardiner. The president addressed further metings at Dipton and Ryal Bush, Miss Eastwood at Lochiel, and the secretary at Limehills and Hedgehope. At Riverton a large audience attended a debate on the disarmament question, Mr Smith, the rector, Dr Gordon, and the Rev. Wesley Parker were the Riverton speakers, and the branch was represented by a team consisting of Messrs Dunlop, Jones and Deaker. The country people showed keen interest in the League and all the meetings were well attended. Public Meetings.

“Two public meetings were held in the city during the year. The first was addressed by the late Mrs Lowe, of Timaru, and the speaker gave a very comprehensive address on the League and its work. The second took the form of a six o’clock tea w’hich was addressed by Mr F. G. Hall-Jones. There was an' attendance of over eighty and :he innovation was most successful. The council is grateful to the Rev. Dr. Gordon, of Winnipeg, for a fine address on the League of Nations delivered in St. Paul’s Church. “Mr William Macalister has again kindly allowed the use of his room as a meeting place for the council. Ten meetings were held during the year, with an average attendance of 9. The council’s strength was weakened by the departure for the North Island of Pastor Fretwell and Mr. C. Maloy, who had both given valuable assistance. As umal at council meetings, members gave papers on various international topics and the council is grateful to Dr J. A. Pottinger and Mr J. R. Hanan for interesting addresses on affairs in Europe. The members of the council again visited city Bible Classes and addresses were given to the classes at First, St. John’s, St. Peter’s and St. Andrew’s churches. “The council is again indebted to the superintendent of the Borstal Institution for permission to conduct a class there. About thirty-fiye boys attended voluntarily and after a series of lessons a short examination was held and the council presented books to the ten boys who had handed in the best papers. Primary Schools. “The teachers in the primary schools have given attention to the task of teaching their pupils the elementary facts about the League, and for this the branch is grateful. With a view to assisting te .chers in this work a booklet is being forwarded to each school with the permission of the Education Board. “Thanks are due to the Press for much space devoted to the work of the council, and a pleasing feature of the year has 'jeen the re-appearance of correspondence which shows that people are thinking about the League from one point of view or another. In conclusion the council has found the year one of no little difficulty. In spite of the trials of the League, the council retains undiminished faith in it and in the system it is endeavouring to bring into World affairs. The settlement of the dispute after the assassination of the king of Yugoslavia, the splendid handling of the Saar plebiscite, the entry of Russia to the League, and the entry of the U.S.A, to the International Labour Conference have been the encouraging events of the year.” The report and balance-sheet were adopted. Officers for the ensuing year were elected as follows: President, the Rev. C. J. Tocker; vice-president, Mr C. A. Stewart; hon. treasurer, Mr G. Featherstone; hon. secretary, Mr A. J. Deaker; hon. auditor, Mr R. N. Todd; members of council, Mrs F. M. Corkill, Misses A. Eastwood and N. Clare, the' Ven. Archdeacon Lush and Messrs William Macalister, W. T. Gilbert, J. L. Cameron, A. E. Featherstone and A. R. Dunlop. President’s Address. “On Armistice Day, 1919, that is two months before the League came offically into existence, but after the essentials of form and organization had been determined, Mr Arthur Balfour said: ‘I am not prepared seriously to discuss with any man what the future of international relations should be unless he is prepared either to accept in some form or another the League of Nations, or to tell me what substitute he proposes for it.’ It is hard to think that if Lord Balfour were living to-day he would show any tendency to withdraw from that position; it is the position held by practically all responsible British statesmen to-day and apparently by the leading statesmen in almost all nations,” stated Mr Stewart in his address. “Speaking in 1919, Mr Balfour, like his fellows, had realized something of the ghastly tragedy of the years 191418. He realized that the supreme need of the world was some assurance of permanent peace among the nations; but neither Mr Balfour nor his fellow statesmen, nor yet such a prophet as Mr Norman Angell, at that time had a full sense of the price that was still to be paid in suffering and money even by the so-called victor nations. If international peace was then recognized as extremely desirable, it has been since recognized as desperately necessary for material existence, and for the preservation of civilization as we have come to know it. In 1919 Great Britain knew that four years of the ‘war to end wars’ had cost the lives of more men than all her wars of the preceding thousand years; with her allies she hoped she had attained peace and security. Now she knows, and all nations know, with more or less clearness and certainty, that no national armaments, used nationally, can gain permanent security and peace. The desperate, nervous anxiety to attain these twin blessings, peace and security, account for the lack of consistency in national efforts since the war. New Organization. ‘Tn attempting to assess the results of League of Nations efforts, two main warnings have to be borne in mind. In the first place it cannot be too often repeated that the League is still essentially a new organization. When we consider the generations taken by Britain to develop her system of democratic representative Government, with ’traversal franchise, when we marvel nt the economic, industrial and political advance that has resulted from half a century of concentrated national effort in Japan, we can surely show some patience in gauging the successes of the new international world-wide svstem

initiated a little over fifteen years ago. It is unreasonable to expect the statesmen of the nations, let alone the peoples of the nations, to acustom themselves in such a short time to a new way of thinking on international affairs. The League took up a difficult job that can be accomplished only slowly and by persistent effort. In the second place we have to bear in mind that the new'method of procedure in international affairs has had to establish itself in times of unprecedented difficulty and complexity. In finance, economics and trade practically all nations have been experiencing years of stress. In some countries political trouble added to the confusion. From widespread unemployment, poverty (and in some countries disease), there easily follows despair er hysteria. It should not be surprising that men have looked for the cure of their ailments in national action over which they think they have some direct control, rather than in international action which seems beyond their control. Here we have a partial explanation of the outbursts in recent years of nationalism in extreme and hysterical forms. The League has had to develop the habit of international ’’co-operation in years when national sentiments have been developed to an abnormal degree. “From these considerations it seems a fair inference that, if the League has achieved successes of notable magnitude in face of the unusual difficulties of the times, progressively greater results may be hoped for as the evil effects of the war recede in the distance.” Profitable Work. After reviewing the work of affiliated or collateral institutions Mr Stewart proceeded:— “Coming now to matters that more immediately concern the League itself we may briefly refer to several directions in which there has been profitable work done. One of the dangers of the pre-war system of security by national armaments and alliances was the secrecy with which the negotiations were carried out and the treaties were made. In July, 1914, it seemed impossible to get a clear statement even of Britain’s commitments with France and Russia. Now all states members of the League, that is, some sixty nations, plainly agree that no treaties among them can be binding until they have been registered with the League and have been published. This surely makes for candid and open dealings among the representatives of nations, and should tend to diminish nervousness, suspicion and belligerency. In this branch of the League’s activities U.S.A, last year decided to co-operate. In other words she registered and published all her treaties. Some 3500 treaties have now been dealt with at Geneva—a state of affairs that would have seemed impossible and absurd in pre-war days. “Individual nations and peoples have had much for which to thank the League. Making due allowance for the work of the Red Cross societies and for American generosity (public and private) we may say that only the League, working through Dr. Nansen and his organization, could have saved Russia from ruin by famine and pestilence in the years immediately following the war. By no other means could the problem of war prisoners and war refugees in Eastern Europe and Western Asia have been dealt with. Austria and Hungary may have many and just grievances against the post-war settlements (which were not the League’s settlements), but the League alone was able and willing to re-establish the finances of those countries and of Greece China may feel that the League let her down in the Manchurian crisis; but China has to thank the League for help in organizing her Customs, her public health system, her transport and education, her flood and famine relief work. Main Issues. “’lt may be felt that I have been evading the main issues—disarmament, peace, security, disciplining of a nation that refuses to come into line,” proceeded Mr Stewart. “I have at any rate endeavoured to show that the habit of conferring and of co-operating in international effort for the common good has shown remarkable growth within fifteen years. I do not propose to reiterate instances already given many times by others of quarrels that have been settled by peaceful means even after conflict has broken out, and of quarrels that have been prevented from reaching that stage. It may be fairly claimed that the practice of regular conferences has smoothed over difficulties that might well have become acute. The assassination that led immediately to the Great War was in many respects duplicated in last year’s assassination at Marseilles. It is no wild exaggeration to say that the recent acute disagreement between Yugoslavia and Hungary, in the international setting of 1914, might well have led to the 1914 sequel. The change of setting is due mainly to the League The simplicity with which the recent Saar difficulty was settled by international co-operation, in a sense an armed co-operation, would have been surprising had we not become accustomed to the idea of joint action. In the Chaco quarrel between Bolivia and Paraguay, the League has not yet been entirely successful: but it has shown that nations can co-operate, to their own loss, by imposing an embargo on the export of arms to belligerents, and then by the maintenance of the embargo on the one nation in the dispute which declines to accept terms set forward by the League. League’s Achievements. “This has been a bald and sketchy statement of some of the League’s achievements. I might have said much more to show that the League functions with full effect only when the individual States members are prepared to face the practical applications of the Covenant as they reveal themselves in the changing affairs of the world. I might have mentioned personal opinions as to how far the increasing armaments of the powers are consistent with League professions and obligations. As to the methods yet to be followed to achieve peace and security, the nations may hesitate and fail to follow a consistent course; of their desire to achieve the common aims of peace and Security there can be little doubt. All European nations except one place reliance on the League, and the one outside is plainly desirous of getting back into tire fold.’ Had Lord Balfour been alive to-day he might or he might not have supported the White Paper of Mr Ramsay MacDonald’s Government; he would, I think, without doubt, have been at one with the Ministry in regarding adherence to the League as the first essential in Britain’s foreign policy.” A Wrong Impression. yMr Deaker said the League met a good deal of opposition among people encountered. This was because they thought there was a body of men at Geneva who interfered in disputes and if they failed the League was no good. That was not so. The only men living at Geneva were the officials, who carried out-the routine work. The League constituted really of the member > States and until the man in the street realized that he was the League they would not get the support they should. The machinery of Geneva merely helped the League to function and bring about world action. Returned Soldiers.

Mr B. Bleakley said he desired to congratulate Mr Stewart on his excellent paper. The League had certainly had its failures; but it had done much good work. If what he had read in-the papers was correct, and he read his paper closely, there was much work to be done in high places. A public man had said recently that the League was getting nowhere. He was sorrv that the

returned soldier or his representative was not present. Mr J. L. Cameron said the League had accomplished much good work in stopping undesirable practices throughout the world. Much progress had been made in the last twelve months and people in the various countries were moving faster than the governments. Replying to Mr Bleakley, Mr Stewart said that in side-channels the League could make progress, while progress in such things as disarmament was slow. Perhaps better results could be achieved with side-attacks than with a direct frontal attack.

Other members also spoke, ArchDeacon Lush stressing the importance of securing the support of the returned soldiers.

Mr Stewart was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his address.