NAVAL LIMITATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 27, 1 February 1930, Page 9

NAVAL LIMITATION.

Compromise Scheme Includes British Idea. BASIS FOR NEGOTIATION". (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) LONDON, January 31. The compromise plan proposed by France at tl;e plenary session of the Naval Conference —which is clumsily called a "transactional" proposal— provides as follows: — [ That each Power shall specify the maximum figure of its total tonnage which it will undertake not to exceed. Each Power also to submit figures for categories of ships the tonnage of which must not exceed the to.tal tonnage for transference. A certain agreed percentage, say 10 cent, would be allowable from one category to another, but only with notice and a number of safeguards. Any increase in tonnage in one category would have- to be accompanied by a corresponding decrease in another. The categories would remain fixed for the duration of the treaty. After that they could be altered only by giving 12 months' notice to the League of Nations. The French delegates want a deviation among all the categories, but that is not likely to be agreed to. The categories suggested are:—•

(1) Battleships of 10,000 tons and over, or ships carrying 8-ineh guns and over. (2) Cruisers carrying guns above a C-inch calibre. (3) Surface craft carrying less than 6-inch guns, including destroyers. (4) Aircraft-carriers. [ (5) Submarines. (6) Mine-sweepers and various small ; craft. i It is hoped that the division of cruiser , categories will help to solve the problem ' outstanding between Britain and the ' United States, and that the grouping of ! light cruisers and destroyers will meet the naval requirements of France. i Whether the categories will stand as herein detailed remains to be seen. It is i known that the original British list distinguished between battleships and . S-inch gunned cruisers. ; A great advance toward agreement between the nations lies in the fact that while the French hitherto have argued that limitation could only' be achieved by total tonnage, leaving any State to allot the tonnage according to its own requirements, and while Britain held that limitation could best be effected within the categories, now the first method has been approved combining both ideas.