The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1928. THE ANGLO-FRENCH COMPACT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 214, 10 September 1928, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1928. THE ANGLO-FRENCH COMPACT.

For the cause that lacks assistance, for the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that tee can do.

The report that the Anglo-French naval compromise is to be quietly shelved is not strictly official, but under the circumstances it is to be hoped that it is authentic. For whatever be the precise character of this agreement there can be no doubt that it has aroused an amount of suspicion and resentment out of all to its importance. The mere fact that it was arranged privately, and that the full text has not yet been made public, was quite sufficient to provide pretexts for adverse criticism, and its etfect so far has certainly been to introduce into international relations an element quite incompatible with the spirit that actuated the Locarno agreement and the Kellogg Pact for the outlawry of war. The question at issue is clearly not the actual nature of the "compromise." For, as we have already pointed out, its details are not yet fully known. What the other Powers resent is the revival of more or less secret diplomatic negotiations between two of the leading signatories to the Covenant of the League. It is possible to argue that diplomacy of the old type is still indispensable. It is possible to maintain that all international discussions and negotiations should be conducted by and through the League of Nations. But it is not possible to maintain both these views at once, and Britain and France certainly seem to have put themselves temporarily in the invidious position of reverting to pre-war diplomatic methods at the very moment Avhen the acceptance of the Kellogg Pact made it most necessary for all the Powers to deal with each other entirely without reticence or reservation.

It is, of course, still possible that, in some form or other, the Anglo-French "compromise" may serve a useful purpose. Its original object was to adjust the relative claims of Britain and France in regard to naval reductions in such a way as to simplify the programme of the Preparatory Commission on Disarmament. But however laudable the purpose of the two governments may have been, they seem to have selected a very unfortunate way of carrying it into effect. It frequently happens that statesmen are forced to choose between what is theoretically permissible and what is practically expedient; and in this instance it would certainly appear that France and Britain have failed to realise that any advantage that might be secured by this "compromise" would be more than outweighed by the apprehension and hostility that it was certain to arouse.