DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 February 1932, Page 5

DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE

SPAIN AND CZECHO-SLOVAKIA. [BY CABLE —PBESS ASSN. —COPYBIGHT.] (Recd. February 13, 10.30 a.m.) GENEVA, February 12. The Foreign Minister, Senor Lulueta, submitted Spain’s proposals at the Disarmament Conference, including the abolition of aggressive armaments, limitation of war stocks, international control of manufacture of arms and ammunition, abolition of military control, and limitation of the size of warships to ten thousand tons. M. Benes declared that Czechoslovakia was ready to accept M. Tardieu’s (France) proposals. FURTHER DETAILS RUGBY, February 12.' When the general discussion on Disarmament was resumed Don Luis de Lulueta, on behalf of the Spanish delegation, put forward a series of amendments, with a view to strengthening the general convention. In addition to the proposals cabled, these include the publication of each country stocks of war materials, the limitation of gun calibres to 203 millimetres, limitation of submarine tonnage to one thousand, with limited range of action, construction of merchant vessels so that they cannot be fitted with armaments, abolition of military aviation, and international control of civil aviation. The Czechoslovakian proposals put forward by M. Benes included acceptance as a whole of the draft convention and its obligations, interchange by countries of armaments information, establishment of a permanent disarmament commission, prohibition of chemical and bacteriological warfare, prohibition of all forms of offensive warfare, more especially aerial bombardment of civil populations. All these measures to be reinforced by a system of penalties. Czecho-Slovakia was willing to submit to a conference now, a limit of armaments,, the minimum compatible with her safety, if other nations were prepared to do the same.