GENEVA RUPTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 112, 15 May 1933, Page 7

GENEVA RUPTURE.

AVERTED MEANTIME. Frank Criticism of German Contentions. VERSAILLES TREATY MENACED (British Official Wireless.) (Received 1.30 p.m.) RUGBY, May 14. A rupture of the disarmament negotiations at Geneva was temporarily averted by the action of Mr. Arthur Henderson in calling a meeting of the General Commission for a general discussion. "The Times," in a leading article examining the prospects of the discussion, saj's: "There can be no compromise in respect to the retention of a loug-service professional army by one State while others reduce their forces to the status of a short-service, conscript militia. The key point of the draft convention — already accepted by all delegations in principle —is the placing of all European Continental armies on the basis of defensive militia. "On that sole basis the table of relative strengths was drawn up, and it is quite impossible to suppose that one country, Germany, could be allowed to retain a home force of veteran soldiers constituting an instrument of potential aggression while no such soldiers in other countries were to be allowed, except for colonial service and on condition of being quartered oversea." Elevation of Might Over Right. "Tho Times" emphasises that no mere change of procedure at Geneva can avail unless there is a change of temper, of which there is little sign in the controversial statement, foreshadowing rearmament which has just been issued by the German Foreign Minister, Baron von Neurath. Recoiling the concessions of Sir John Simon's official statement on the German claim to equality last November, it says: "The trust and good will which these concessions connoted have now been swept away. Since the advent of the Hitler regime, with its elevation of might over right, and its glorification of militarism, opinion in this country has hardened absolutely against any strengthening, even relatively by the diminution of others, of the military power of Germany." • Plain Threat to Repudiate Treaty. The "Manchester Guardian" says that Baron von Neurath's article is "a plain threat of coming rearmament, implying repudiation of the Treaty of Versailles, which last year's recognition of equality of status on certain conditions does nothing to justify. The delay secured by Mr. Henderson gives Germany another opportunity to think again."

The "Morning Post" says: "Until the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles have been abrogated by conscnt of all the treaty partners, they remain absolutely binding. . The machinery for achieving such consent was provided in the British draft disarmament convention, which would have placed Germany on the same footing in principle as every other country. "Viscount Hailsham was voicing the imanimous opinion of the British people when he declared that the rearmament of Germany would, constitute a breach of the Treaty of Versailles and would call into operation the sanctions which the treaty provides. If Herr Hitler sincerely wants peace and gives practical evidence of his intention to maintain it as a settled policy, then he will not be denied peace with honours."