NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE Foreign Affairs debate last Friday produced more than a, general approval of the French pro- posals for an, Eastern European Locarno. It revealed a new consciousness on the part of the House of Commons of the importance of maintaining the collective system in the world, and the necessity for this country to support it. It is quite true that the House's warmest approval was reserved for Sir John Simon's declaration that Great Britain could undertake no fresh obligations, but if we are ready to carry out with ordinary loyalty the general 'obligations we have contracted under the-League Coven- ant, and the more precise, if geographically narrower, obligations of the Locarno Treaty, no one is likely to ask more of us. The reaffirmation of our duty under Locarno is a valuable contribution to European stability, and has been received nowhere with greater satisfaction than in Belgium, for Locarno is so often spoken. of as a matter between Britain, France and Germany that the guarantee of Belgium's frontier, no less than France's and Germany's, by Britain and Italy tends sometimes to be forgotten. So long as it is generally believed that the obligations con- tracted under Locarno will be carried out without hesita- tion or attempt at evasion, should need arise, then it is certain the need will never arise at all.
