COOLIDGE SIGNS.

Auckland Star, Issue 38, 14 February 1929, Page 7

COOLIDGE SIGNS.

NEW CRUISER BILL. Legislative Economies To Give £10,000,000 Needed. MONEY FROM PRESENT BUDGET (Australian and N.Z. I'ross Association.) (Received 0..T0 n ni.) WASHINGTON", February IS. President Coolidge signed ?h'Cruiser liill, authorising the construction of lifteen cruisers and one aeroplane carrier, and containitvj; the amendment hv which the President is authorised, in (he event of disarmament agreement being reached byth'Powers, to suspend building oporal ions. There was Utile ceremony at the signing of the lull, which took pla ••• after a conference with the Congres-iona! leaders concerning ways and means to provide the ncee-sary .C1U,000.(100 in this and the next ti-cal year. There was no official comment after the conference, but it is indicated that all leaders are willing to co-operate with President Coolidge's wish to rigidly hold down legislative appropriations in order to provide for cruisers under the present Budget. Mr. Britten. chairman of the Hrai-e Naval Affairs Committee, issued a statement. praising Pre-ident Coolidge for the signing of the hill and charging that the naval construction programme adopted by Britain "i> a distinct menace to the lialance of the world." Mr. Britten also charged that the accejited principles of the Washington Conference had been violated by each of it- signatories except the United States, thus leaving the American navy far behind the .3—.">—H ratio. The statement added: "The President knows better than anyone else that hi< < ieneva. Conference for the further limitation of ,-hips of war failed because our representatives would not agree i.i limit our navy t<> the kind of ships best adapted to British uses."

EYES ON GERMANY

Naval Building Plan Raises French Suspicion. FORMIDABLE NEW CRUISER. (" Times " Cable?.) LONDON". February 13. The Paris eorre-pondent of the ■'Times'' says the French Ministry of Marino is watching with intense interest and with no little anxiety the German Government's naval plans. It was recently revealed that the cruiser now being built in Germany ithe lirst of four of the same class. The Minister of Defence. General Croener. recently indicated that the new craft were designed to secure Germany's preponderance in the Baltic. Jiut what the French authorities are asking is, if the cruisers were really designed to control the Baltic, why should they be so superior to the necessities of that ta-kV It is pointed out in Paris that a) though the new cruiser- will have a displacement of only ll>.00<» to** the\ will be enormously superior in gun power and protection to the conventional tyj»e of 10.000-ton vessels wh'n h they could blow out of the water with immunity to themselves. The radius of action of the new Ccrman ships woun! make possible long operational periodin the Mediterranean and further aticld. Wherever tlie-e cruisers appear tliev will enjoy local superiority against anv force which does not include a <ijiiad"oi< of super-Dreadnoughts. The Fremb \ iew is that Germany is tiding lici treaty rights in thi- way to replace her six obsolete battleships. Competition in naval building is believed to be inevitable unless limitation can be secured by agreement. The opinion in France is that the German Covernment will assume a heavy respon.-ibilitv if it start- a new armament. race.

FORCED TO BUILD.

BRITAIN'S CRUISER STRENGTH. (Australian and N.Z. I'rcss Association.) LONDON. February 13. The naval correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph"' says there is cood reason to believe that Kritain would not have built two more co-tly lil.oiM- • "ii cruisers but for the action of other I'owcis. liritain at present has ele\en of the type and Australia two. \\ ith the two now beinj* laid down the Empire will eventually have lifteen heavy cruisers eoinpared with America's J:i. .lapan lias ciuht and France and Italy six each. It i< improbable that much will be made with the new ships betore the end ol the current financial year. siy< the c >rre-j.ondciu. Certainly they will not be ready for mm \ ice until the spring or summer of l!t:]-2. These two ships belon- to the projrraimne. The na\y e-timatc- I 1 provide for three more cnii-t : one of IU.OOO toii.» and two of f>4ti'■ tons.