BRITAIN’S TRADE ROUTES

Evening Star, Issue 19619, 27 July 1927, Page 7

BRITAIN’S TRADE ROUTES

NAVAL PROPOSALS LIMITATION AND PROTECTION ISSUES (British Official News.) Press Association—By Wireless—Copyright. RUGBY, July 26. (Received July 27, at noon.) For several hours yesterday a committee of the Cabinet was engaged in close and detailed consideration of the questions raised in the report given at Friday’s Cabinet Council by the principal British delegates to the Geneva Naval Limitations Conference. Britain’s minimum naval needs, involving in particular the protection of approximately 80,000 miles of Empire communications, upon which at almost any time 9,500,000 tons of British ships with individual tonnage exceeding 3,000 tons are engaged, were fully examined. The importance of this purely defensive side of the British naval policy is emphasised by tbo fact that much of the trade thus borne is foodstuffs, of which Britain never has sufficient to last her population for more than seven weeks, while the ronijiiuder is necessary for the economic welfare of the Empire.

The technical details upon which the British proposals to the conference are based were again closely discussed in relation to the various demands advanced at Geneva, and ‘ The Times ’ says the possibilities of compromise were reviewed and suggestions for securing at least a provisional agreement considered.

A Cabinet Council lias been summoned lor. to-day to consider the results of these discussions. The Government has been concerned to avoid any precipitate steps, and will probably take full advantage of the present opportunity to dissipate misunderstandings and to leave no doubt whatever either concerning its earnest desire for agreement on the disputed issues or the vital naval needs of the British Empire. Nothing is known in official quarters in London of a newspaper report that the British Ambassador at Washington had lodged a protest with the United States Government against the misrepresentation of the British proposals for naval disarmament and the misquotation of official statements on the subject which appeared in United States newspapers. Indeed, it appears from the more recent Press telegrams that the aims of the British naval policy are beginning to be more fairly dealt with in the United States. GOVERNMENT TO MAKE STATEMENT. LONDON, July 26. (Received July 27, at 11.50 a.m.) Mr Winston Churchill announced that the Government intended to make a statement on Wednesday or Thursday dealing with the Geneva naval discussions.