DISARMAMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 9, 11 July 1934, Page 7

DISARMAMENT

DIVERGENT VIEWS

BRITAIN. AND.FRANCE

CLAIMS OP GEBMANY

(From "The Post's" Representative.) ! LONDON, May 31. At the Disarmament Conference at | Geneva yesterday, .the. speeches of the French and British - delegates revealed a divergence of "-view: that appears unbridgeable. - ' ■ "It is no use marking time here and simply talking," said Sir John Simon. "Wo must continue our efforts, but with a chance of some success. "The British Government," he added, '' holds that it is necessary to bridge the gap between Germany's claims and the British Memorandum of January 29. It feels that the British . Draft Convention will afford the best chance of agreement, even with the modifications which find expression in the Memorandum of January 25. "It holds that the memorandum put forward by the Danish, Spanish, Norwegian, and Swiss delegations is iv filoso accord with the British memorandum. ' - "His Majesty's GovernmentVi» fully prepared to continue its -.efforts. The time is long past when we can delude ourselves into imagining that, by a pious expression of our desire to reach agreementj we arc promoting agreement. GRAVITY OP NO RESULTS. '"While we talk the world will not sit still. "We have to determine not whether we will go on but whether we are agreed upon a basis that makes it possible for us, as practical men, to believe that we are advancing to achieve a general Disarmament agreement. "We are still convinced that international agreement about armaments would be the greatest contribution which could be made to the restoration of confidence and the consummation of peace, and we realise to the full thegravity of reaching no result, i "We will-not lend ourselves to the indefinite continuance of vague, "inconclusive discussion justified by nothing better than the sanguine hope tliat after all, something in the way of a solution may yet turn up. This for two reasons: ■ " "First, we are convinced that such procedure would inflict a great and increasing injury on the . League of Nations and on the whole conceptiou of effective international action; "Second, if the Disarmament Conference were kept in being purely for the purpose of debating, it would destroy any real hope or prospect of achieving positive results. • PROTOCOLS SUGGESTED. "We should, itf effect, be debarring ourselves from whatever new efforts may be needed if the conference cannot make an effective move forward. World conditions ar*, nevertheless, changing. "Europe has new dangers to face, and Governments cannot bo debarred from dealing with them by-the specious plea that Governments are in conference at Geneva if all that can be dono is to make speeches. Is there not material, by combining such agreement as has already been reached with new concessions, which must be made if we are not to fail to reach the goal? _ "Cannot we, without further loss of time, put into effective shape protocols and, make them ready on two or three more limited but most important matters -which appear to bo ripe for prompt and effective treatment? ' 'I will mention three," Sir John continued. They were, he declared:— Chemical warfare; Budgetary publicity; The setting-up of a Permanent Disarmament Commission. "The British Government welcomes Mr. Davis's reference to the importance of dealing with the manufacture of and traffic in arms and munitions of war. While there can be no justification for going on in a•■ spirit, of undefined optimism, there is the' most urgent need of deciding now what we can do and doing it without delay." "iff, BARTHOU'S SPEECH. M. Barthou began by saying that h« had hatred for nobody. Ho complained of the conciliatory policy of Britain towards Germany anil her contradictory attitude at the Disarmament Conference. Ho recalled Sir John Simon's declaration on October 14 against the rearmameat of Germany and contrasted it with the British Foreign Minister's present policy of agreeing to a certain measure of German re-armament. ■•-■ ' His ' ready wit and ■ his irony flreir peals of laughter fronr the audience—a feat which no other speaker has achieved since the Conference-began. • When he referred to M. LitvinofE as "a-man who does not try; to'please everybody," there was .considerable amusement. When, turning to proposals that have been made apart from those advanced by the British •. Government, he said, alluding to the Four* Power Pact:— ■ • " . ■■— "Mussolini, too, is -riot a man who^is incapable of paternity." ■ He added that Sir John Simon must be aware of this, since he sat as godfather. . , " . . BRIDGES WITH TRAP DOORS. "Sir John had spoken," M.* Barthoa continued,N"of building bridges betweea conflicting points of' view." ' This indication the French' Minister would bo perfectly prepared to accept, but upon one condition. He had no.predilection for sudden immersion in water and would have to satisfy himself that there should not be in the length -of that bridge a trap door. . As ho made this statement, M. Barthou looked across at Sir John.'Simon' with an air that seemed to ask the .question: "Can you deny the reasonableness of that?" ' " Germany had left the League of Nations and published a book in which its re-armament is stated, and asserted, by official figures. ■ Germany . seemed, in fact, to be saying: 'We have: left the League. We have regained ■ .our full liberty. Wo are strong in our own strength and; wo arc embarking upon a policy of re-armament."' Hero M. Barthou .shook .with indignation. "Shall this Conference,",he" asked, enunciating each word slowly and.clearly and thumping with his fisfc on the rostrum, "be. expected: to .'yield to expressions like .that? Must everything be abandoned that.'was not ae-: ceptable to the German Government?"