GENEVA CONFERENCE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 15 August 1927, Page 5

GENEVA CONFERENCE

MUCH USEFUL WORK. CRUISER STRENGTH. A BRITISH OPINION. (British Oli'icfiaiL W ireless.) RIUiGiBGY, Aug. 12. The Rt. Hon. W. C. Bridgeman First Lord of the Admiralty, speaking last night on the recent Geneva naval conference, said that although the delegates disagreed he did not regret that the conference Iliad taken place. He was certain that it -had done a great deal of good by letting light and air into the whole- subject. . . Mr Bridgeinan expressed the opinion that a mistake was. made at the "Washington Conference when i.t was agreed that the. maximum for new cruisers should be 10,000 ton® with eight inch gun®. Unhappily, he said, the maximum tonnage and calibre tended at once to become .standard figures. Britain wished to reduce the size- of ships and guns. An eigbt-incli gun had an immense superiority over a- six-inch gun, and that was a direct incitement to all countries to go in for the maximum. The Americans proposed, also, that de-sfioryer-s should be allowed as much as 3000 tons, which meant that destroyers would fee nearly twice .as large as they were now. The British proposals were by far the most effective as regards economy and were stated absolutely frankly. “We asked each country to say what they wanted and why they wanted it,’ said Mr Bridgeman. “We -had the greatest difficulty land we never did succeed in .ascertaining why it was that America wianited suc-ili a large number of those .large cruisers and such a large number of cruisers even a- little below 10.000 tons, 'but with eight-inch guns. It was on this we were unable to came to terms. We said wo wanted number. They said they would not limit the size of the guns they wanted, and there we could no,t agree. “The reason we wanted number was simply that we live on an island and our food and the raw materials for our trade come immense distances." There are many thousands of miles of trade routes to be protected. "We have only in this country a few food supplies, and during the Avar rye found out liow quickly we could get near starvation point. America/ after all. is a huge country, sellf -contained, and it is in-conrei.A-iaib.le’ that she could be the subject of a strict 'blockade. “We AA-ere nipt considering the possibility of Avar with America, and it Avias out of our minds altogether. Our problem is. one of defence, against any accident that might happen. We Avant assurance .against dlanger unforseen; danger might come from anywhere.” Mr Bridgeman .added that one good aspect o.f the conference Avas that it demonstrated once more the union of the British Empire.