DOUBTS SET AT REST.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 198, 23 August 1928, Page 7

DOUBTS SET AT REST.

Franco-British Settlement Ol' Differences. NOT A DIPLOMATIC ACT. (Australian Press Assn.—United Service.) PARIS, August 22. A semi-official, communique has been issued about the compromise on naval armament limitation reached between Britain and France. This says comments in certain foreign newspapers necessitate the publication of an explanatory statement. The communique emphasises the fact that the agreement is not a diplomatic act involving the signatures of the plenipotentiaries, but rather the end of the Franco-British disagreement. It recapitulates the history of naval disarmament since the Washington Conference. Stress is laid upon the statement that the suggestion of secret clauses in the agreement is inaccurate, because a signed convention does not exist. It explained that the compromise is intended to remove British and French divergencies of view. The communique emphasises France's need of small low-powered submarines to maintain her communications with North Africa, also her need of armed light cruisers for defence. Britain contends that such craft, when offensively armed, should be subject to limitation. The communique adds that the agreement is intended to serve as a basis for the settlement of the whole disarmament problem.