The Star. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1924. PREPARING TO KILL WAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17347, 30 September 1924, Page 6

The Star. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1924. PREPARING TO KILL WAR.

If sufficient of the powers agree, great benefit should fol—low from the peace-enforcement proposals discussed by the League of Nations Assembly during the past few (lays. Some of the plans may be branded as idealistic and farreaching, but they are none the worse for that. It is worth preparing a long Way ahead, even if only one war out of six can be smothered at birth. A few of the explanations offered by Dr Benes in sublnitting the report of the Third Committee are, nevertheless, not quite as clear as they might be. The Council of the League when it calls on signatories to enforce sanctions, will, it is stated, become a regulating rather than an advisory body, but not an executive body. There is room for a great deal of argument on this point. Sir James Allen, on behalf of New Zealand, mentioned other delicate questions. \Vhat will be the posi—tion of non—signatory States and which States are to be asked to furnish information in advance concerning the forces available in the event of sanctions?

Possibly, Sir James Allen was thinking of a piquant situation that British legal experts had previously puzzled over in attempting to define the position of the Dominions. In ‘an extreme case, at Dominion, being a separate entity, might refuse to arbitrate, and might become an aggressor. \Vould the League then be empowered to order the British Fleet to attack its own Dominion? However, the present is more a time for preparing an atmosphere congenial to peace, than for asking definitions of action considered necessary in a thousand-and-one unlikely situations. The discussions at Geneva have had a healthy tone from the first. Practical questions have been faced fairly and squarely, and, if the Japanese opposition reported to-day can be overcome, a decisive step forward will have been taken towards lasting international peace.