LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Waikato Times, Volume 90, Issue 14049, 30 April 1919, Page 5

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

TERMS OF NEW COVENANT. CONDITIONS OF ADMISSION. LIMITATION OP ARMAMENTS. ACTION BEFORE WAR IS MADE.. (Australian and N.Z. and Reuter.) .... Received April 29, 5.5 p.m. NEW YORK, April 28. The revised text of the covenant of the League of Nations to be presented at the plenary session of the Peace Conference is a lengthy document consisting of 2G articles. It largely, covers the ground already cabled. Article one provides that the original members of the League of Nations shall be those of the signatories and also such other States as shall accede without reservation to the covenant. Such accessions shall be effected by a declaration deposited with the secretariate within two months of the enforcement. The covenants also provide for the admission to the League of any fully selfgoverning State, dominion or colony if agreed to by two-thirds of the As-' sembly, provided it gives guarantees of its sincere intention to observe international obligations. Any members of the League may “after two years’ notice withdraw from the League if all its obligations under the covenant have been fulfilled.” Article eight, referring to the reduction of armaments, states: "Such plans are to be subject to reconsideration and revision at every 10 years, and the limits of afffcnents must not be exceeded without the concurrence of the Council.” Article twelve provides that if a rupture should arise between the members of the League war shall not he resorted to until three months after the Council has given an award on the question, and if the Council is Successful in settling the dispute a statement will be made public giving the full terms of the settlement. If a settlement ><; not effected the Council shall publish a statement of the facts of the dispute and "the recommendations made by the Council, members, of the League agr:efng,;not to,.go,,to,war with any pjarty to a dispute..which complies ..with The of the report, vv.the Council fails to Teach a report unanimously agreed ,-tp by, the members other than the t parties to the dispute, the members of the League reserve., the right to take any action cbhsidered necessary. Article sixteen states that should a nation resort to war in disregard of its covenants it shall ipso facto be deemed to have committed an act of war against all the other members of the League, who shall immediatelv subject it to severance of all trade and financial relations, urohibifing all intercourse between their nations and the nationals of the covenant-breaking member, and preventing all financial commercial or personal intercourse between the nationals of the covenant-breaking member of the League and. the nationals of any other State whether a member of the League or not. It will be the duty of the Council in such a case to recommend to the.several Governments concerned what effective forces—naval or military—members of the League can contribute to protect the covenants of the League, members also agreeing to support one another in financial and economic measures taken. Any member violating the covenant of the League may he declared no l onger a member ,of the League by a vote of the Council concurred in by all the other members represented thereon. Article seventeen States that in the event of a dispute between a member of the League and a State not a member or between States not members of tbe Leacue, they shall be invited to accept the obligations of membership of the League for the purposes of such disnute upon such conditions as the Council may deem jus£. Upon giving such invitation the Council shall immediately institute an inquiry into the dispute and recommend the necessary action. If both States refuse .membershin of the League .the Council shaß take measures To prevent hostilities and to settle the dispute.

Article twenty requires members to atrree !o the covenant accepted as abrnnatinfr all obligations or ■understandinns inter se which are inconsistent with the terms of the covenant, and undertake not to enter into future en-vpp-ernents inconsistent with the terms cf the covenant.

Article twenty-one provides that, nothinc in the covenant sliall be deemed to af f ect the validity oT international pncne-ernents. such as treaties of arbftration nr regional understanding's like the. Monroe Doctrine, for securing the maintenance of peace. Article twenty-two provides in re card to those colonies and territories which in consequepQp of the late war wj'l not be under the sovereignty of the States formerly governing them, and which are inhabited by peoples unable to stand bv themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, that shall be applied the principle that the wellbeing and development of such peonies from a secred trust of civilisation and securities for the performance of this trust shall be embodied in the covenant. This is provided for by mandatories on the part of the League, the mandatories to differ according to ♦be stacre of development of the people, the geographical situation, economic condition and other similar circumstances. The covenant mentions certain communities formerly belonging to the Turldsb Empire, other peoples of Centra] Africa and South-west Africa, and certain South Pacific Islands. RACIAL EQUALITY OMITTED. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.) Received April 29, 9.5 p.m. PARTS, April 28. Mr Wilson moved the adoption of the League of Nations covenant. He said he hoped that the free nations of the world would maintain justice in their international relations. The Japanese claims for racial equality have been withdrawn, but will be submitted to the League later.

VARIOUS MATTERS CLEARED UP. IN THE REVISED COVENANT. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.) Received April 29, 10.35 p.m. LONDON, April 29. It is pointed out that the re-drafted covenant provides for the admission of Germany and Russia to the Council, when they become established as Powers and when they can be trusted to honour their .obligations. The effect of the article admitting a small Slate, to sit on the Council when its affairs are intimately involved amounts to an effective vole as the Council’s decisions must be unanimous. Tge'fdraft clears up doubts regarding disarmament. 'Tl’here will be no dictation as to the size of the national forces; the Council will merely formulate plans, which the Governments will accept or reject, and which will be the basis of a subsequent disarmament convention. The article guaranteeing territorial integrity emphasises that the League cannot be used to suppress internal movements, ils function being merely to prevent forcible annexation.