DISARMAMENT

Evening Star, Issue 19410, 19 November 1926, Page 4

DISARMAMENT

BRITAIN’S POLICY DISCUSSION IN LORDS. Press Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, November 17. In the House of Lords Lord Parmoor drew attention to mandates and disarmament apropos of the Geneva decisions. He urged that the attitude of Great Britain was an essential factor in the success of disarmament, and said that the Government should enlarge the area in which it was willing to avail itself of arbitration. Regarding mandates, Lord Parmoor asked the Government whether it agreed with the Gover-nor-General of New Zealand that the first consideration of a mandatory Power was the ultimate benefit of the inhabitants of a mandated territory. Lord Oxford said that substantial efforts had been made for the cause of peace under the Washington and Locarno Agreements, but Washington had left land, aircraft, and submarines untouched. The disarmament of Germany, in the view of the signatories to the Treaty of Versailles, was regarded as a first step in general disarmament, but the advance since had been small. Lord Oxford contended that the use of chemical and bacteriological agencies in war should be prohibited, and also submarines. The first thing should be to limit peace-time armaments. Viscount Cecil agreed that chemical warfare should be abolished, but there was no unanimity of opinion regarding submarines. The discussions, however, had shown that disarmament was quite practicable, and he was sanguine about the prospects of an international disarmament scheme.