BRITAIN'S IDEA.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 190, 13 August 1928, Page 7

BRITAIN'S IDEA.

IN U.S. PEACE PACT.

Princip;:! Enunciated At Geneva Conference. SPEECH BY FIRST LORD. I Hrii-h ( Illi.-i.'ll Wiiv]o. tf . i i Ki.■ i\-o. 1 l'j nnnn.) !:n;i;Y. August 1-2. :: - 1" disarmament »|tsestion-. :»i- Fir-! Lord of the Admiralty. Mr. William ('. Rridfrfinnn. at If«'! 11 'i»-1•). Yorkshire, last night taid tliiit Irit:iin hnd done more in this direction than any other Power and >-he was j>"fJrod tr» do still move. 7"] mi |>i o|i'i.-,il fur a multilateral pact wn~. in fact. ..lily another way of proj,ocuicr what. 011 behalf of the British <im ci nn.cnt. lie proposed at Geneva a rear ago. 1.• n Mr. Kc1!o-l' explained what he in fm a! 1, y 111; ■ outlawry of war he showed tlmi. h : - i'lca was that no nation which n •<! the pact -liouhl use war as ail iiist rui.o'iit of national policy. That was a. pti ft'cil v plain statement with which he cordially agreed. It meant tlint each nation could take what, measure it thought fit for its own defence, hut that, each was bound in honour not to appeal to armaments in order to carry out an aggressive policy. It, was almost exactly the same tiling in principle as what, at Geneva, Britain had proposed, namely, that aggressive naval warfare should be considered entirely out of court and that the Powers should come to agreement on what vessels each wanted for its own self-defence. The pact was a very leng step in the right direction. Referring to the Anjrlo-Freneh compromise regarding the proposals for a hasis of naval limitation, he said: At the previous meetings of the Preparatory Committee for Disarmament Conference a good deal of difference was revea-td between the French view and the British. Since then we have had conversations with the French and by concession on both sides we have arrived at an agreement which we hope will I e accepted by all the other nations.

•'lt has nothing to do with the American multilateral pact, but it will make it perhaps easier in the future to arrive at some agreement at the Disarmament Conference at Geneva."