WOMEN AT WEMBLEY.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 16095, 19 September 1924, Page 6

WOMEN AT WEMBLEY.

THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL. Wembley is so unexpected! An absurd thing to say after all the descriptions, posters and pictures of the Exhibition which have filled newspapers and wall space for many weeks, but quite true all the same. The pictures and posters represent the scene, but, in these days, the artists are the first to tell us that it is the impression of the scene which is the main thing; and I ask any fair-minded person whether the impression they expect to receive at Wembley is not one of the sort of blatancy, of size, and magnificence, and advertisement, with a dingy background of mud and unfinished preparations? And it is all quite different. It is not blatant at all, but in a curious way quite quiet and friendly.

There certainly are a great many people. At times one is caught in a jamb, but there is a feeling of peace about it which I have never known in an Exhibition before. It is not finished, of course, and there are dangers for the unwary where strips of linoleum stop abruptly, and little steps up or down trip one up. But I caught myself asking unconsciously, "Wily should it be finished? It's really something alive and growing." Indeed, to give the finishing touch of absurd antithesis, I felt the same delighted surprise at the real thing as one does after long cold winter to see the fern fronds uncrumbling in the woods and the hedgerows. Until it comes one always has a lurking doubt each year that spring is too good to be true. And at the back of the British mind there is the same lurking incredulity as to the ■ Truth and Reality of the much-talked-of British Empire. So many have been the laudatory accounts of the wonders of Wembley that those of us* who know the Empire knew they couldn't be true. You can't put the , Rocky Mountains and the waterways of Canada in any building; the wheat lands and sheep runs and orcrards of Australia must be seen to feel their charm of space and sunshine; the glamour of Africa, and the mystery of India and the Far East, can only be shown in symbol on the clay soif and under the pale skies of England. As for the great industries of Britain herself, it. is like trying to judge a forest by a leaf or two from the trees. But the wonder of the Exhibition exists all the same, and as with the uncrumplmg of the fern it lies in part in the unfolding of an idea. There is a living thought come to the birth in this Britsh Empire Exhibition, and now and then one gets a glimpse of it. The King gave utterance to one aspect in his words about brothers who work the heritage of a common estate, and on the spot one lias a strange inward consciousness that, quarrels and misunderstanding and family jars notwithstandiag, brothers the nations of the Empire -are and will remain. ; But there'is something more still which lies, even deeper than the brotherhood of the nations of the Empire—a question, perhaps a hope, that the brotherhood of the Britons here and beyond the seas is but. the beginning of a wider brotherhood of all nations under the sun. It may be that both question and answer came to me at the conference held last week at Wembley under the auspices of the International Council of Women and its wonderful president, Lady Aberdeen. It is natural enough and fitting too, that, under women's inspiration, the keyword of Wembley should be spoken "Peace among men of goodwill." After all, if you< think of it, why not? Why should the nations of the world be ready to fly at each other like naughty children to Tear, and Scratch, and Kick, and do each other all the harm they can? In a well-managed nursery that simply isn't done, and in a reasonable and educated world it wouldn't be done either. It is still largely a "world of men," and the mothers of men have long looked on and steeled themselves and steeled their sons to endure wounds and hardness arid death for their souls' good. But now, even in the very title of their conference —the Prevention of the Causes of War—has not the wit of woman gone straight to the point? "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty," said King Solomon long ago in wise philosophy—and left it at that. "He is a fool who thinks that courage or chivalry or any good thing can come of wars waged as war is waged now, by death-dealing rays and the destruction of men and cities by the pressing of a button a hundred miles away." Says the common sense of woman, "Let us put a stop to it." And the I.C.W. Conference applied itself in all seriousness to consider how to put a stop to the very beginning of it. And admirably did it do its work. Addresses were given on the influence of education in schools and interchange of university students and teachers by various speakers: Mr Sainsbury, ex-president of the. National Union of Teachers, Dr. Nitobe of the League of Nations, Professor Winifred Cullis, Mr Sen, and others. Miss Margaret Bondfleld, Miss Cornelia Sorabye, Sir George Paish, spoke of the development of the international mind in questions of labour, religion and finance. The progress made in international conventions as regards traffic in women, in arms, in liquor and noxious drugs was discussed by wellknown authorities like Madame Avril de Saint Croix, Mr Harris M.P., and name Edith Lyttclton; while the possible Developments of Diplomacy under democratic control and the influence of the press in affecting the popular view of international relations produced admirable speeches from Mr G. Young and Mr A. .!. Spender. Time fails to give all the speakers, but the addresses will be found in the printed report of the conference. Coming from such <i meeting day after day it was not difficult to sec that the wonder of the Exhibition lies in this, that it stands for a symbol of what can be wrought by justice, freedom and peace. For there is not a building there that could not recall memories of old unhappy things which are now become, or are in a fair way to become, but matter for old songs with pride instead of bitterness in their story. The Exhibition is not to the' glory of one little island, hut to the struggles of the men who spranc; from her and made sood, and in making good have helped others and other races tn make pood too. To quote one -speaker at the conference: No nation once risen out of harharisrn lives to itself or by itself, and the debt thai one owes to all the others for gifts of learning, service, inspiration can only be repaid by like gifts In return.