DISARMAMENT

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 269, 14 August 1928, Page 11

DISARMAMENT

BRITAIN DONE MORE THAN OTHER POWERS AND PREPARED TO GO FURTHER KELLOGG PACT A STEP IN RIGHT DIRECTION The First Lord of the Admiralty declares that Britain has (lone more in the direction of disarmament than any other Power, and is prepared to do more. Tlie Kellogg Pact, he added, was a very long step in the right direction. (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, August 12. Referring to disarmament Questions, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. William Bridgeman, at Hellifield, Yorkshire, last night said that Britain had done more in this direction than any other Power, and she was prepared to do still more. The proposal for a multilateral pact was, in fact, only another way of proposing what, on behalf of the British Government, he proposed at Geneva a year ago. Outlawry of War. When Mr. Kellogg explained what he meant by outlawry of war he showed that his idea was that no nation which signed the pact should use war as an instrument of national policy. That was a perfectly plain statement, with which he cordially agreed. It meant that each nation could take what measure it though fit for its own defence, but that each was bound in honour not to appeal to armaments in order to carry out an aggressive policy. It was almost exactly the same thing in principle as -what at Geneva Britain had proposed, namely, that aggressive naval warfare should be considered entirely out of court, and that the Powers should come to an agreement as to what vessels each -wanted for its own self-defence. The pact was a very long step in the right direction. Anglo-French Compromise. Referring to the Anglo-French compromise regarding proposals for a basis of naval limitation, Mr. Bridgeman said: “At previous meetings of the Preparatory Committee for the Disarmament Conference a good deal of difference was revealed between the French view and the British. Since then we have had conversations with the French, and by concessions on both sides we have arrived at an agreement which we hope will be accepted by all other nations. It has nothing to do with the American multilateral pact, but it will make it perhaps easier in future to arrive at some agreement at the Disarmament Conference at Geneva.” Singapore Naval Base. It is officially stated at the Admiralty that there is no foundation for any statement that may have been published that the placing of the contract for carrying out the naval base scheme at Singapore has been postponed pending the signature of the Kellogg Peace Pact.