very timely address was delivered before the members of the Pan-Pacific Association at a tiffin, Pan-Pacific Association on March 3, when Mx. Kirby Page spoke "National Defence." The gathering was, presided over by Mi MI, Green, editor of the "North-ina Daily News" and Mr. Page, the course of his speech, said:—"There are two systems of notional defence. We must rely upon the war system or the peace system, Under the former, nations depend upon armies and navies for. the protection of their interests and the preservation of their honour. This has led to the race of arm ment and the creation of an immense amount of suspicion, fear and hatred. This old system led to the World War with its terrible losses of life and immeasurable damage to property.
"An increasing number of people all countries of the world are coming to. realize. that the war system really. does not afford safety and security, but is itself a prima source of national danger. Thi roup is secking to create a system, They would build upon the foundation of the Pact of Paris or Briand-Kellog Treaty. In this treaty, the nations renounce war as an instrument of national policy and agree to settle all disputes by some "peaceable means. Conciliation treaties constitute a second aspect of the peace system. An even micro advanced method is arbitration. Some 50 nations of the world have joined the World Court, About half of them: have accepted the compulsory jurisdic tion of the Court in legal question:
'A fifth agency of the peace found in the League of The primary function of the League is to summon international conferences for the purpose of considering. questions that threaten the peace of the world. Slowly the nations are acquiring the conference i habit, "Another function of the League is to serve as a clearing house for inter national action in times emergency. On several occasions, the League has stopped hostility that have broken out between countries. The League is gaining steadily in prestige and influence. In addition to creating the machinery for peace, the nations must proceed seriously with the task of disarmament. There will be no perihanent security as long as the world is an armed camp with each nation maintaining large forces. It is of the utmost therefore, that public opinion in' the various armaments by the Conference assembled in London.
It i obvious that neither the war system nor the peace system can give nations absolute security. We must run risks in either case, does seem obvious, however, that, if the nations continue to rely upon the war system, it will only question of time _unti] hostility break out again. The next war, if it comes, will be fought in the ai with aeroplanes and poison gas. We have made enough progress in creating the peace system to enable us to hope that within another decade, international agencies will be strong enough to prevent the outbreak of another great war. In the last analysis, each one of us
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.