LEAGUE PLAN ACCEPTED

Taranaki Daily News, 9 March 1932, Page 7

LEAGUE PLAN ACCEPTED

CHINESE LEADER’S ADVICE

IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL MOVE

SIR JOHN SIMON’S VIEWS

“ CANNOT DISCUSS DISPUTE”

(British Official Wireless.) Rec. 5.5 p.m. Rugby, March 7. China’s acceptance of the peace resolution passed by the general committee of the League Assembly on Friday was indicated in telegrams from President Chiang Kai Shek and Mr. T. V. Soong (Vice-Presi-dent of the Council of Ministers) which were read to the Assembly at Geneva today by the Chinese delegate (Dr. Yen). During the discussion the British delegate (Sir John Simon) emphasised the importance of local negotiations for the settlement of the dispute. The situation involved something more than a restoration of peaceful conditions in the Far East—it involved the usefulness of the League. They had to show that the League was indispensable as an instrument of peace. They could not well proceed to discuss the dispute, Sir John said, as they were not in possession of all the facts and he suggested that, the League commission of inquiry having arrived in Manchuria, the delegates should wait until a report was submitted by its members. He was in favour of making a solemn declaration affirming that the fundamental principles of the League would have to be the sole basis for the settlement of disputes. CRITICISMS DEPLORED “LEAGUE INVALUABLE TO WORLD.” (MASS MEETING OF THE UNION. Rec. 5.5 p.m. London, March 7. Viscount Grey, presiding over a mass meeting of the League of Nations Union at Albert Hall to-night, deplored the attacks on the League arising out of the Far East trouble. Britain’s foreign policy must carry the sentiments of the Dominions, who sided with the League, Viscount Grey said. If Britain did not pursue the league policy its policy would be suspect to the Dominions and anti-imperial. Despite the League’s non-success in restraining combatants in the Far East it remained invaluable to the peace of the world. If it disappeared, disarmament and other questions requiring international action would have a much poorer chance. Japan had resorted to force instead of putting its case before the other Powers, but military success would not open the Chinese markets. Viscount Cecil said Japan alone resorted to violence. If the Assembly did not exert its powers to restore peace its members would be regarded as accomplices of the aggressor. The League must repudiate the Japanese doctrine and re-assert the obligations forbidding a nation to take the law into its own hands.