A THREAT TO BRITAIN

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1929, Page 9

A THREAT TO BRITAIN

EBULLIENT BORAH

"FREEDOM OF THE SEAS"

Australian Press Association.

WASHINGTON, 2-ith January.

With the beginniug of a gdneral debate oh the Cruiser Bill in the Senate to-day, Senator Borah made it clear that: other, though correlated, issues, will be injected into tho discussion. He introduced an amendment' declaring it to bo the sense of the Senate that a rccodificalion and restatement of international maritime law should bo made before the next disarmament conference in 1931.

Senator Hale agreed to, accept tho amendment, but whether the remainder of the Naval Committee would approve of /it is still a matter for conjecture. Senator Borah said:- "If we cannot have, an agreement regarding the freodom of the seas, and if the safety of our commerce must depend entirely on our navy,.we will build a navy superior to that of Britain, but before we start on a naval race we should make an effort to reach such agreement." He intimated that there were "unmistakable signs of such a race."

Senator Borah referred to the jingoism on both sides of the water, and added: "While all source? of controversy between our nations cannot be removed, this one can. This uneasiness, this disturbance, to my mind is 'founded on the condition now existing on tho sea. With referenco to maritime law, there is no such thing as a guide to the operations of commerce, and mattevs are just where they were when the world, war closed." The Senator came out against fixing the time limit within which, the fifteen cruisers should bo built, on the ground that an agreement may be reached with other nations on the armament quota and freedom of the seas, and desires to leave to the judgment of the President whether the cruiser programme may not bo cancelled.

Intrinsically, Senator Borah wants the cruisers built only to-replace obsolete _ vessels, and, thus is technically considered to. be' an enemy of the cruiser programme. Yet opponents of the measure 'cannot be certain of his continuous support, for ho made it clear that, if, a freedom of the sea agreement cannot be reached, he will, back-the cruiser building and will oppose any efforts to reduce the proposed fifteen cruisers to any number below the minimum of ten. ' '