WORLD PEACE

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXVI, Issue 7906, 24 September 1929, Page 2

WORLD PEACE

PRODRESS BY IMBUE OF NATIONS A FORWARD STEP BRITAIN PLAYS BIG PART (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 22. Mr Arthur Henderson, British Foreign Secretary, who arrived in London yesterday evening from Geneva, stated to Press representatives at Victoria Station that it was his firm belief that the tenth Assembly of the League of Nations would be a conspicuous milestone on the road towards the brotherhood of mankind. “On the paramount questions of arbitration, security and disarma- , ment the British delgation has, I venture to say, spoken with the voice of conviction. It is not only by speeches that we have shown our determination to go ahead. “When the Prime Minister . announced that the Governments of the British Commonwealth had all decided to sign the optional clause before the end of the Assembly his words made a tremendous impression, and they have had the practical result that no fewer than twelve new signatures will have been given before the Assembly separates next week. “Remember that when the signatures have been ratified the four great European Powers, Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy, will be bound to send their legal disputes to the Permanent Court of International Justice for settlement, and other important countries like Brazil, Holland, Czecho-Slovakia, the Scandinavian States and others will also be similarly bound. “We have also hopes that the other great nations will follow suit. This is, therefore, an advance in the sphere of arbitration, and if it is not, more than the first step, it is nevertheless a big one. “In other ways this Assembly will be a memorable one. There was unanimously passed a protocol which will, it is hoped, enable the United States of America to accept the statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice. That alone is a. great achievement. “We have also endeavoured to bring the Covenant into consonance with the pact of peace, so that it will be clear from both of these instruments that the nations of the world have renounced war as an ct of national policy. “A committee has been set up to consider our proposals in this connection on disarmament.”