CRUCIAL STAGE

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 308, 23 September 1932, Page 11

CRUCIAL STAGE

Geneva Conference DISARMAMENT ISSUE No German Delegate APPEAL FOR CONCILIATION (Rec. September 22, 9.30 pan.) Official Wireless. Rugby, Sept. 21. A meeting of the Bureau of the Disarmament Conference was opened at Geneva to-day. The German delegate was absent, but the other Great Powers were represented. On the suggestion of the Chairman, Mr. Arthur Henderson, the Bureau postponed any discussion on the subject of Germany’s absence till the German Government had the opportunity of answering Mr. Henderson’s letter of September 18, in which he Invited the German Government to reconsider its decision to abstain from the Disarmament Conference till its equality claim had been conceded. Mr. Henderson, proceeding, declared that the Disarmament Conference had reached its most crucial stage, and he urged the delegates to start on a new road. Everything that had happened since the adjournment had strengthened their case. Fateful decisions must be taken. A Press Association cablegram states that Mr. Henderson has contributed an article to a Geneva local newspaper strongly appealing to the Powers to take immediate steps to conciliate Germany by pledging themselves to carry out the disarmament obligations of the Peace Treaty. The French Premier, M. Herriot, went to Geneva expecting that the Disarmament Conference would immediately discuss the German absence. As this was postponed for some days .he returned to Parts without attending Wednesday’s proceedings. BRITISH SUGGESTION Material Advantages GERMAN VIEW MAY CHANGE (Rec. September 22, 9.45 p.m.) London, Sept. 22. The "Daily Telegraph” says that British circles are fairly optimistic that conversations during the Assembly next week between Sir John Simon and Baron Von Neurath, the British and German Foreign Ministers, will have a good effect, and that as a result of them German opinion will appreciate the material advantages of following the policy suggested in the British Note for an agreed gradual reduction of the disparity between German and other armaments by a succession of disarmament conventions. “The Times” In an editorial claims that what is now needed, and wbat Britain can be trusted to work for unremittingly, is a united declaration, especially by the former Allied and Associated Powers, that disarmament conventions will, in law and fact, supersede Part 5 of the Versailles Treaty. “This will both preserve the principle of limitation and at the same time give Germany no valid reason for staying away from further proceedings,” it adds. “VERGE OF WAR” Disarmament Policy Result London, Sept. 21. “'The National Government’s disarmament policy has brought Europe to the verge of war,” declared Mr. Lloyd George at a meeting in the Cardigan by-election campaign. “They have contrived to get Italy, Germany, and Russia against us, and Britain’s only ally is France, the greatest military Power on the Continent."