DISAGREEMENT.

Grey River Argus, 12 July 1927, Page 5

DISAGREEMENT.

A NAVAL PARLEY. Britain’s High Cruiser Limit. NOT ACCEPTABLE. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.) (Received July II at 7 p.m.) , LONDON, July 11. All the messages from Geneva anticipate the failure of the Conference. To-day (the Central News Agency , says) Mr AV. C. Bridgman (Britain), ' Mr Gibson (America), and Baron Saito (Japan), and the Secretary met in an endeavour to reach a settlement on the cruiser ( question. The result has not I been disclosed. Each will make a full 1 statement of their views to-day. I The point of the deadlock is that Britain want to have 593,000 tonnage ■ in cruisers. America is for 450,000 ( of a cruiser tonnage, to which Japan , 'is understood to be also favourable. j Anti-British opinion accuses Britain , of keeping the card up her sleeve that ( i she is able to equip 49 fast merchant j ships with six-inch guns. It is also believed that Mr Gibson ; will stress this point in combating the 1 British small cruiser limit. The most popular suggestion for a < solution is the adoption of two cruiser 1 categories. If this is impossible, the | other points of agreement may go overboard, since America declares the other . agreements arc contingent upon an ; agreement on the tonnage of all the ' categories. GENEVA, July 11. Mr Bridgman’s proposal to postpone to-day’s Plenary Conference is due to ' a desire to reconsider the naval build- i ing programme specifying future British and American construction over a period of years. This has not yet been published, though the experts have , considered it. The Daily Telegraph’s Geneva correspondent says: —The policy of the American Delegation throughout has been to hold meetings in private, but, somehow, what took place in the Com- ■ mittee room has always appeared the following day in the American newspapers. The British Delegation feels ■ that the British attitude has been persistently misrepresented by the United States." Hence it is desirable that the meetings should be public. The Morning Post’s Geneva correspondent states: —A remarkable feature of the Conference has been the spirit of compromise and conciliation which the Americans haye taken up. League of Nations circles, however, see a blasting of all the hopes for general world disarmament, sive, in order to meet Britain’s specie. 1 needs for the protection of trade routes. British circles point out that new Japanese proposals are not acceptable, because based on Japan’s shortage limit for warships, which has thrown an unnecessary burden on the taxpayers. The application of the British iage limit to Japanese figures gives.the total tonnage not far short of Britain s own proposals.

’ — Last Hour Delay. FEARS OF NEW NAVAL RACE. (Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn &- Sun Cable) (Received July 11 at 7.5 p.m.) LONDON, July IlMr W. C. Bridgman suggested to Mr Gibson that a postponement to-day of the Plenary Conference might have advantageous results. America agiced to this. Japan is also probably willing to agree. ■GENEVA, July 10. The executive committee this forenoon briskly rediscussed the cruiser difficulty and the communiques setting out the three viewpoints on capital ships, and then adjourned to a date not fixed. The'week-end is being diverted to private conversations on cruisers and preparations for Monday’s plenaiy session. Nothing has yet happened to bring within sight an acceptable cruiser compromise. Delegation opinions

arc still far apart and apparently irreconcibable, but it is learned definitely from the delegates present at this morn ing’s meeting that nobody is preparing to°face an actual abandonment of the conference. Mr. Gibson, after the meeting said:— 1 refuse to be discouraged. We at present are not nearer a solution, but all sincerely want naval limitation, anil believe, we can eventually find a way out. We are determined to keep on trying till we do. ’ ’ 'There is a limit the impasse may end by an agreement to divide «> - « l s erB in two categories, offensive and defenBBITAIN’S CRUISEB DEMANDS. LONDON, July 10. “The Empire’s interests are suffering as the result of secret meetings, which only give the opportunity for unscrupulous sections of the foreign press to misrepresent our proposals, and invent the most grotesque fables. 1 hope that future meetings will be open to the Press. This is the only way to arrest the mendacious campaign, declared Sir J. Parr, on arrival last night from Geneva. He added: “The only cure tor the raider is the cruiser. Britain’s claim to seventy cruisers is reasonable to intelligent civilian New Zealanders and Australians with 12,000 miles of trade route to protect. They support Britain’s measures to keep ocean highways clear. If the conference breaks down, it will be because the nations to decline to recognise facts about our far-flung Empire. ’ ’