The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, APRIL, 13, 1938. NEW ZEALAND IN THE WORLD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 87, 13 April 1938, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, APRIL, 13, 1938. NEW ZEALAND IN THE WORLD

-pHE sensitiveness of Mr. Savage to opinion expressed outside New Zealand, has been made plain by his recent letter to the Sydney Morning Herald. This sensitiveness will doubtless be increased by the telling of the story of the Geneva incident, when Mr. Anthony Eden blue-pencilled Mr. Jordan s speech. The following is a paragraph from Mr. Vernon McKenzie’s book, “Through Turbulent Years” (Geoffrey Bles), page 229:

“During an interval in the Imperial Conference sessions a meeting of the League Council was held at Geneva. New Zealand was represented by her High Commissioner in London, W. J. Jordan, formerly a police officer in the British capital. He planned to make a strong pro-League speech. Eden and others in the Foreign Office asked if they could look over the speech before it was delivered. Without definitely refusing, Jordan and the New Zealand Premier, M. J. Savage, avoided showing the contemplated speech to anyone outside their own group.

“At the Council session, a few moments before Jordan was due to read his address, Eden obtained a copy of the paper, quickly blue-pencilled certain passages which he decided were not sufficiently innocuous, and then returned it to the bewildered. Jordan. When his time came on the programme the New Zealand High Commissioner got up, mumbled a few perfunctory sentences, and sat down. Apparently Eden’s action took the heart out of the speaker and the ‘guts’ out of the speech. “There was a sequel later in London. At subsequent sessions Savage attacked Eden in no honeyed tones; astonishing language eoming from one of the smaller cubs to its Downing Street mother. It was not found possible to patch up peace between the two. Except on strictly necessary and official occasions, Savage ‘cut’ Eden during the succeeding weeks of the Conference.”

It will be remembered that the Geneva incident was cabled to New Zealand in terms fairly in line with the narrative of Vernon McKenzie, but there was subsequently cabled a denial that Eden had interfered at all with Jordan’s speech. The whole business merits being discussed fully in the House of Representatives, and it is to be hoped that the Leader of the Opposition will seek an opportunity to initiate such a debate.

The first point of interest is why did the New Zealand delegation pursue the alleged line of secrecy? Surely it should have been plain to men with such shortcomings as Messrs. Jordan and Savage, that, to embark upon an adventurous line on the international stage was a hazardous essay. Ordinary prudence would have dictated consultation beforehand with the specialists in the British Foreign Office.

The second point of concern is Mr. Savage’s conduct after the incident. He was there as the representative of New Zealand, and he had no right to exercise his personal pique on a visit to England which cost this Dominion no less than £II,(XX). Great Britain is still New Zealand’s only defence against aggression. If it were not for the British Royal Navy New Zealand would be powerless to withstand invasion, and because of this Dominion’s dependence for defence upon the United Kingdom, her statesmen have a right to be consulted on such occasions as International Conferences. Only those nations which can stand alone against the world are in a position to take an independent line of action, and are therefore free to dispense with consultation.

There is another phase of this matter which must be pressed into notice, and that is the effect of such conduct upon New Zealand trade relations with the United Kingdom. The only tangible result from the visit of Mr. Savage to the United Kingdom and Mr. Nash’s peregrinations round the world, is the trade agreement with Germany, and if the full story be told this agreement would be attributed to the good offices of Mr. Clinkard, New Zealand’s representative in Europe, and the offices of the British Board of Trade. New Zealand’s trade, relations with the United Kingdom have suffered some severe shocks in recent years. The high-exchange policy which broke across the Ottawa Agreements as soon as they were signed, and the more recent increase in the tariff on British goods to cover the cost of idleness in New Zealand, being outstanding examples of this disturbance of relations. The present situation requires tactful handling and if the narrative of Vernon McKenzie is substantially correct, Mr. Savage’s show of pique at the List Imperial Conference was the reverse of helpful. Finally, seeing that it appears to be well established that Anthony Eden did intervene to prevent Mr. Jordan making a “bold” speech, how came it that a denial of such intervention was cabled to the New Zealand Press?