The Waikato Times. With which Is Incorporated The Waikato Argus. THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1929. THE WORLD COURT.

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17712, 16 May 1929, Page 6

The Waikato Times. With which Is Incorporated The Waikato Argus. THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1929. THE WORLD COURT.

Mr Elihu Root’s endeavour to open a way through which America may enter the Permanent Court of International Justice has had the inevitable result. It has been announced that a band of members of the United States Senate will most strongly oppose every effort to obtain their country's adherence to the Court. The Senate, of course, is the paramount power so far as America’s foreign relations arc concerned, and among «its members there are always some who pin their faith to that policy of aLoofness which placed President Wilson in such an anomalous position after the war. It is a policy that the average man who is not an American cannot hope to understand, and its application to the question of the World Court is particularly remarkable. To the outsider at any rate it seems that no harm could possibly come to the United States through association with the Court, and certainly the Court itself would gain, for the system of international arbitration can never be considered complete while one of the world's greatest nations fails to participate in it. The attitude of America was originally demonstrated in the five reservations submitted by President Coolidge to the League of Nations—five conditions, in fact, whose fulfillment the Americans required before giving adherence to the Court. No great difficulty was experienced in dealing with four of the reservations, but the fifth has been the subject of discussion for more than two years and it is only within the past week or two that any real progress has been made towards the solution of the problem which it presents. This reservation provides that the Court should not be asked by the League to give a judgment on any

matter in which the United States had or claimed to have an interest unless the United Stales first gave its consent. The other nations have been unable lo agree (o ibis provision, for its acceptance would mean that the United Slates would he given a power of veto. Its one vote, exercised in opposition to the decision of all the other adherents to the Court, would be sufficient to prevent action in relation to a matter in which the United States had only the remotest interest, if any real interest at all. Moreover, Ihe principle upon which the reservation is based is that of unanimity, and that principle has never been established m connection with the Court. At Geneva in 1926 the leading adherents to the Court discussed the reservations and agreed to submit a statement on the subject -to all the adhering Powers. This document declared that “the fifth reservation appears to rest upon the presumption that the adoption of a request (for an advisory opinion or judgment) by the Council or Assembly requires a unanimous vote,’’ and no such presumption, it was stated just as plainly, had been established. It happens that all the League’s requests have been unanimous, but that does not prove that they had to be. The modified proposal which Mr Root recently submitted to the League provides machinery to determine whether the United States is really interested in any question with which it may be proposed to ask the Court to deal, and also suggests that if in any case the other adherents and the United Stales should be unable to agree, the United States should he empowered to resign from the Court. It still seems that the United Slates is not willing to give its adherence on the same conditions as other Powers have done, hut at any rate the efforts made by Mr Root and President Coolidge, and now supported by President Hoover, have given ground for hope of a settlement. It is decidedly regrettable that at this stage unexpected opposition has arisen in the Senate, with the result, according to a recent cablegram, that the matter is not likely to be before Congress till next December. The World Court has already accomplished a great deal of admirable work, but it has always been felt that the abstention of ihe United Slates has been a source of weakness. The adherence of that great country would round off the constitution of the Court and put international arbitration on a broad and sure basis.

FOOLISH LAWS. Very longsuffering people are the employers of New Zealand. For many years they have been compelled to pay the wages of their young employees who are summoned lo the military camps for the compulsory training. They have submitted lo this as a proper, though unwelcome, lax to be paid for the maintenance of a fighting force. The Government has had no such scruples, its employees do not receive their wages for the camp period unless they choose to forgo their military pay. Sauce for the private goose is not, sauce for the Government gander. It is out of the purse of private business for the most part that the rest of the funds for military expenditure are drawn. Moreover, private employers in a small way are often put to far greater inconvenience by the absence of cadets than are the State departments with a. large reserve lo draw from. These disadvantages were pointed out by u Christchurch employer in the Magistrate’s Court recently. One disadvantage of the present system is that no one knows howmuch the camps are costing. If the Government paid the full cost, it would be more inclined to reckon up whether the training system is worth white. No one would suggest, of course, that the reckoning should be simply one of pounds, shillings and pence. To count the moral gain and loss is far more important. This is only one of several foolish laws with which our Parliament fails to grapple. We have' a company taxation law which imposes on the poorest shareholders in some instances the high income-tax which was specially devised for the very rich. We have State trading departments enjoying all manner of privileges and exemptions in their competition with private enterprise- There is a land aggregation tax which applies most absurdly to trading concerns with branches in different centres. Our business men are indeed longsuffering.