PACIFIC TREATY

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 March 1922, Page 5

PACIFIC TREATY

l- . e o AMERICAN CRITICS ANSWERED MR. HUGHES'S STATEMENT. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. i b 5 WASHINGTON, Alarch 11. ' Senator Lodge has notified the Sen 1 ate that he will call up the Pacifii Treaty on Saturday and keep the Sen , ate on continuous session until a voti i is obtained. Senator Robinson has .moved ai amendment binding the four Powers t< refrain from aggression, and providing that, when a controversy arises whirl is not settled diplomatically. all the nations concerned shall be invited to a conference. 'l'he administration leaders have decided that it is necessary to press the treaty with the utmost persistence to obtain a vote in the lace of the filibustering tactics of the Opposition. Answering the attacks on the authorship of tlm Pacifii’ Treaty. Senator Lodge told the Senate that the treaty was very much in the mind of the American Delegation some time before negotiations began to be disclosed. At the time that Air. Hughes was denying that such a compact was contemplated it was actually under discussion among the delegates to Washington. Senator Underwood, one of the American delegates at the Washington conference, in a speech in the Senate, said that the Democrats would support the Pacific 'Treaty. He declared that its defeat would bo a backward step in the nation's life, and ratification would eliminate any real cause of war. Criticism of the treaty, based on the inclusion only of four Powers. lacked force, because those Powers were the only ones capable of disturbing the peace of the Orient within a decade. He declared that the Pacific. Treaty was a better guarantee for the Philippines than fortifications or navies. “1 have yet to find ?he. man,” he said, “informed on naval matters who docs not admit that if we became involved in war with a first class naval power, in the beginning it would be impossible for us to protect Hie Philippines from a successful attack.'’ Senator Underwood read Air. Hughes's letter which created a stii amongst the full Senate and crowded galleries and added : “There is a feeling in the world that th? United Slates cannot make a compact ami be bound by it. T will not stand in the way of the reservations which will not destroy the treaty terms. I will accept Senator Brandegee’s reservations, but Senator Robinson's reservation would destroy the treaty terms. Mr. Hughes, writing to Senator Underwood, declared that failure to ratify the Pacific, treaty would be nothing short, of a- national calamity. He said: It seems to be implied in some wtiy that the- .American delegates have been imposed upon, or that limy were induced to accept some plan cunningly contrived by others and opposed to our interests. Apart from the reflection upon the competency of the American delegates, such intimations betray a very poor and erroneous conception of the ci inference’s work, no part of which, whether within or outside the meetings was begun, prosecuted or concluded in intrigue. Long before the conference met, the United States stand that the Anglo-Japcnese Alliance should be abrogated had been communicated to the Powers concerned, and it had also been made clear that the United States could enter no alliance, or make any commitment to use of arms which would impose any such obligation. As to its decision in future controversies, he asserted that, there were no secret notes or understandings connected with the treaty framing, but the Pacific liettiy was the result of suggestions by represent .d ives of the Government’s concerned. International amenities (irevented him revealing the detailed discussions on the draffs submitted. He assured Senator Underwood that a full disclosure of the negotiations would reveal nothing contrary to the traditional policies of the United States Government. JAPANESE SUPPORT. TOKIO, March 11. The Cabinet has decided to begin a withdrawal of the .Japanese troops from Shantung on the first of April. Admiral Kato and AL Hanihara have arrived back from the AVashington Conference. They -were heavily guarded. No demonstration was attempted. Admiral Kato, answering criticisms, denied the Japanese delegates were under foreign pressure. He added that while some details of the AVashington results were unsatisfactory to Japan, generally speaking all the nations were satisfied. Air. Tokugowa in a speech, declared the critics of the Pacific Treaty were trying to read into very plain terms some moral pledge binding the nations | to war as well as peace. That interjPrefation was too far fetched to need repudiation. ' , — t