NAVAL LIMITATIONS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 August 1929, Page 5

NAVAL LIMITATIONS.

CONFERENCE ARRANGEMENTS. (Australian Press Association.) ißy Gable—Press Assn.—Copyright.) LONDON, July 31. The "Morning Post’s” diplomatic correspondent understands that Mr. MacDonald and General Dawes have practically agreed to the procedure on the limitation of the Armaments Conference. First there will be a meeting of the five great Powers, America, Japan, France, Italy, and Great Britain ,at which the proposals and suggestion formulated at the meetings between General Dawes and Mr. MacDonald will be submitted. If it is considered these suggestions can possibly form' the basis of a settlement, then the Washington conference of 1931 will be called earlier. The resolutions therefrom will then be submitted to a preliminary disarmament conference at Geneva, whose purpose will bo to bring the rest of the Powers into line.

The correspondent deduces from this procedure that Messrs. Dawes and' MacDonald have already arrived at some agreement which evidently deals not only with cruisers, but further the limitations of all categories of ships, for the Washington Conference only dealt with capital ships. MR. HOOVER’S ATTITUDE. WASHINGTON, July 31. The agreement between the United States and Great Britain looking to complete equality in strength of their navies is held by President Hoover, as an answer to critics of his decision to postpone work on three cruisers, which were to have been laid down next Fall. The President, in a letter replying to criticisms of his action by the National Commander of the American Legation, Menutt, describes the agreement as “the first step for renewed consideration of reduction of excessive world naval armaments, and a forward step of first importance.” Reiterating the position that defence is all that the United States is seeking, the President expresses the opinion that it is better to establish a relationship such as that represented in the parity agreement than to “resign ourselves to continued attempts to establish it by rival construction programmes.”