DISARMAMENT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 174, 8 July 1932, Page 7

DISARMAMENT

HOOVER DECLARATION WARMLY WELCOMED BY BRITAIN IMPORTANT STATEMENT IN THE COMMONS. (British Official Wireless.) Received 8, 12.30 p.m.) Ruguy, July 7. The Rt. Hou. Stanley Baldwin, Acting Prime Minister, maue an important declaration on the British disarmament policy in tlie House of commons. fie said that the Government cordially welcumeu the Hoover declaration because it called for a really substantial measure ol disarmament and sought to apply two principals of quantities and qualitative limitation. Success at Geneva uepenaeu <;n general agreement and the Hoover proposals were put forward as a contnoution to the agreed general programme, rhe British proposals should be similarly remembered. Britain further agreed with President Hoover that the three problems of military, naval and air disarmament were inter-connected. Britain, like the United States, found her strongest arm in the navy, and although naval contributions -to disarmament on the largest scale had already been made m advance of the present conference the British Government now ottered a further contribution as part of world settlement. Dealing with land disarmament Mr Baldwin said that Britain had already joined in rejecting chemical and bacteriological warfare and had proposed the abolition of ah mobile guns above 155 m.m. calibre. Regarding tanks the Government, agreed with President Hoover in desiring that specifically ofleusive weapons be prohibited, Britain mid on land alreauy put into practice a measure of disarmament which more -a conioiined to tne standards proosed by President Hoover.

Coming to the naval proposals, Mr Baldwin sajd that numerical reduction in the British i\avy had already teen applied on a large scale and, indeed, the cruiser numbers would require special consideration hereafter. It was possible, however, to secure by other means a large diminution in naval armaments. The British proposals would seek to reduce the size of guns and ships below the standard put forward by the United States. If the calibre of guns was reduced to twelve inches the maximum size of capital ships could reuuced Horn 3b,UOU to 25,(JUD tons. The same principle could be applied to cruisers and maximum size and gun calibre could be reduced from • 10,000 tons and eight inches to 7000 tons and 6.1 inches. It would then be possible to reduce the size of capital ships still further and fix a maximum of 22,000 tons with eleven-inch guns. This would nearly halve the initial cost and greatly reduce maintenance. ABOLITION OF SUBMARINES. Britain favoured the abolition of submarines, which would also make possible a reduction in the destroyer tonnage by about one-third. If submarines could not bo completely abolished there should be strict limitations of the total tonnage and the number of units.

Turning to the air proposals. Mr. Baldwin said that the Government was prepared to go any length in agreement with other Powers to preserve the civilian population from air bombardment and proposed the prohibition of bombing from the air save within certain limits, with attacks upon the civilian population to be entirely prohibited. Britain also proposed strict limitation upon the unladen weight of all military and naval aircraft (troop carriers and flying-boats excepted) and restriction on the numbers of all kinds of military and naval aircraft.