WEAKNESS OF CONFERENCES

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20996, 26 December 1939, Page 4

WEAKNESS OF CONFERENCES

How an attempt was made at the eleventh hour—too late—to avoid war was told by Mr R. J. F. Boyer, an Australian delegate to the League of Nations, who has returned after attending conferences in Europe on economic subjects. The attempt to prevent the outbreak of war was made at the conference of international chambers of commerce at Copenhagen. Large delegations were present from most of the great Powers and, Mr Boyer said, there was remarkable unanimity in favour of a peaceful solution. Germany, however, remained silent at this critical stage and so the suggestion that a conference of the Powers should be held fell flat. Politics of course intervened. Here, as on many other occasions, the point arises regarding the most suitable form of delegations to such conferences. It is a wellknown fact that the private citizens of all countries are utterly opposed to war. Call a conference of business men, workers or any other class and there is not the slightest difficulty in securing absolute unanimity against war and international strife. But call a conference of political leaders and the result is almost certain to be bickering, insincerity and eventually strife. It has been proved a thousand times. No method has yet been found of securing international action based wholly on the wishes of the peoples concerned. Here is a moral of first-class importance to the world. The solution is not easy to And, for many tremendously important factors are involved—all the factors, indeed, that lead to the evils of wars. The difficulty is to select spokesmen who are truly representative of the peoples concerned and who at the same time have the power to commit their countries to a definite course of action. Naturally, reliance is placed upon elected representatives who are professional politicians and “expert” negotiators. The results are well known. International collaboration is difficult enough even when aggression and the lust for conquest are not abroad; when they are involved, one nation with sinister intent can throw half of the world into chaos, not because its people wish it but because of the ambitions of the political leader or because of the particular colour of his politics. , There is much room for research in this most outstanding problem.