NAVAL ARMAMENTS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 5, 1 October 1929, Page 11

NAVAL ARMAMENTS

MR, MACDONALD’S MISSION TO UNITED STATES NEW MOVEMENT IN WORLD AFFAIRS (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, September 28. After the thick mist over Southampton Water had lifted, the Cunard liner Berengaria, on which the Prime Minister and his party are proceeding to the United States, moved out this morning in bright sunshine. Both British and American newspapers, commenting on the statement made by the Prime Minister on leaving London last night, and upon the cordial message sent him by the King, emphasise the national settlement of goodwill which attends his mission. A New Movement. The “Manchester Guardian” says:— “It is not merely that he is the first British Prime Minister to go on a diplomatic mission to the head of the American Government. It is much more than that; he is initiating a new movement in international affairs. He is attempting to put into practice the sermon of war outlawry as first conceived in America, and finally embodied in the Kellogg Pact. Mr. MacDonald and President Hoover have deliberately set themselves to see whether the Pact cannot be made the basis for an actual reduction in naval armaments.” The “Dally Mail” says that there is good reason to hope that the Prime Minister’s journey will be crowned with success, and cites the unfortified frontier which 'runs for thousands of miles between Canada and the Unitefl States as a proof that two different peoples can trust one another and dispense with great armaments in their relations. Tactful Open-Mindedness. The “Daily Express” says that Mr. MacDonald has brought to the solution of the problem a tactful open-minded-ness, for which the Americans should be as grateful as we on this side of the Atlantic are grateful to President “Daily Chronicle” says: “They start not very far from understanding. We look to them to come to an agreement which may set the pace towards a reduction for all Naval Powers and between Britain and America for ever abolish competition in armaments. Cabled extracts of New York editorials emphasise the American view that Mr. MacDonald’s visit is not merely for the purpose of negotiating details o Anglo-American naval agreement, but is rather for the broader purpose of settling any differences concerning the methods'of Anglo-American co-opera-tion for the preservation of world-wide peace. The Real Problem.

The “World,” for instance, says that an Anglo-American agreement on armaments has already been reached, and adds that were Britain and America the only sea Powers the issue would be for all practical purposes completely settled. The problem confronting Mr. MacDonald and President Hoover is to find a means of preventing a disagreement over questions not directly between Britain and America, and this Involves an understanding of the course of action to be taken in the Five Power negotiations. The sequence of events whereby the Anglo-American conversations will be related to negotiations with other Powers was indicated in the Prime Minister’s farewell statement. The Prime Minister stated that, if all goes well, a Five Power Conference will be held early in the New Year. If it succeeds, it will supply the Preparatory Disarmament Commission to the League of Nations with a substantial coitribuiton to naval disarmament. The Preparatory Commission would then be free to proceed with its general work and it will later on be possible for the League of Nations to summon a General Disarmament Conference of all nations, towards which it has long been working. Mr. Baldwin, Leader of the Opposition, in a manifesto on the political situation Issued last night, recalled that it had been his intention to pay a per sonal visit to the United States, if returned to office, and he wished Mr. MacDonald every success in his negotiations.

MESSAGE TO LABOUR

PARTY

VALUE OF PERSONAL CONTACT

(British Official Wireless.)

Rugby, September 29.

The Prime Minister, in the course of a message to the National Executive of the Labour Party, which will be read at the opening session of the annual conference to-morrow, refers to his mission to America and describes It as the culmination of negotiations and ex changes of view begun when the Lab our Party first came to office in June and assiduously pursued ever since.

He continues: “I do not want there to be any misunderstanding as to the

nature of what we are attempting. Any agreement we achieve can only be and is only Intended to be preliminary to a larger agreement which must be reached in conference with the other naval Powers and later on in the Preparatory Commission sitting at Geneva. We are not trying to present any other nation or nations with a fait accompli which they must take or leave. What we are determined to avoid is that the general march forward towards disarmament may be held up in future as it has been In the past, while two great naval Powers, ourselves and America, halt by the way to argue about their own special difficulties. I think we can now say that the kind of agreement necessary to prevent that is well within reach, and I go to meet President Hoover in the hope and expectation that the degree of friendly understanding achieved during many weeks of distant correspondence will be strengthened and rendered closer by a few days of personal contact. I also feel, quite irrespec tive of the particular points we have been discussing, that the establishment of such contact is immensely to b» desired, and nothing could be of more value to international goodwill than a mutual confidence between the Government of the United States and of Great Britain.”