The Hawera Star. TUESDAY, APRIL, 6, 1926 DISARMAMENT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 6 April 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

TUESDAY, APRIL, 6, 1926 DISARMAMENT.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock in Hawera. Manilla, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham. Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea. Vaverley, J.lokoia, Whakamara, Ohangai. Meremere. Fraser Road and Ararata.

Japan is already in the field with her proposals for the agenda of the disarmament conference shortly to be suiUmoned by the League of Nations. And the very restraint of those proposals is an earnest of Japanese sincerity. It is evident that the eastern nation is going to approach the conference in a practical spirit, and does not regard it is an occasion for illusionary and idealistic talk far beyond the reach of possibility in the present condition of the world. There may be djfferenees of opinion as to. what constitutes a “feasibility” in disarmament proposals; but the aim—that the conference shall not decide upon anything which the-Powers may be incapable of carrying into effect—is sound. The recommendation that the use of poison gas be prohibited will meet with general approval, for there can be no disputing the contention that gas as a: weapon of war is a horrible violation of the principles of humanity. For that matter, war itself is an equal violation; but until it can be rid of all war, civilisation should lose no opportunity of making it les,s terrible. There should be little opposition at the conference to the outlawing of gas—but conference decisions, or rules of war, do not, always bind-warring nations when the tide is turning against them. Unanimity is not so probable in regard to the suggested abolition of submarines. Indeed, Japan has taken this early opportunity of indicating that she is opposed to any such proposal. This means that submarine warfare will not be prohibited just yet; for Japan lias only to stand by her guns—or her periscope, if that be what they stand by in a submarine—to ensure that any decision of the other Powers shall be. void. The world has not yet reached a stage of development in which a majority decision in such matters can be held to govern the minority; and certainly no other firstclass Power will scrap its underwater craft while Japan retains hers. The objection to submarines is made on the double ground that they are barbarous in their action and dangerous to the crews whicli man them; and public opinion was turned against their further use largely by the loss of M 1 while engaged in manoeuvres off the south coast, of England last year. Barbarous they may be, but no more so than the torpedo, or the “Big Bertha,” or the bomb from the air; and the danger to the life of the crew is a -handicap which the submarine shares with the fighting aeroplane, the polar exploring ship, and the tank. Possibly better work could be accomplished in the cause of peace and humanity by limiting the number and size of submarines than by a forlorn attempt to abolish them utterly. At any rate, that appears to be the Japanese view.