FRIENDLY SPIRIT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 258, 14 October 1932, Page 5

FRIENDLY SPIRIT

DISARMAMENT PROBLEM BRITISH AND FRENCH MINISTERS CONFER. LENGTHY CONVERSATIONS. (British Official (Received 14, 12.30 p.m.) Rugby, Oct. 13. Anglo-French conversations on the disarmament problem occupied several hours at Downing Street, and will be resumed tp-morrow. The Rt. Hon. Ramsay MacDonald and M. Hernot spent an hour together alone, after which they were joined by Sir John Simon and the French Ambassador, M. do Fleuriau. An interim communique issued ae scribed the conversations as informal and related to difficulties that h:iu arisen as regards further progress in disarmament. The conversations were resumed later in the afternoon and lasted for two hours. It was announced that these had been marked by a very friendly spirit and that they would be continued at 10 o’clock to-morrow, after which lull communique would be issued. M. Hernot intends to leave London to-morrow afternoon at 4 o’clock. To-night Sir John Simon gave a dinner party at Claridge’s in honour of the French Premier, Mr MacDonald being among those present. It is understood mat nothing oc curred to-day to affect the proposal put forward by the British Government and accepted in principle by France Germany and Italy, that a four-Power conference be held in the near future. The purpose of to-day’s meeting in no sense was to negotiate, but merely to allow a frank exchange of ideas as to the methods of removing the obstacles which impeded the general disarmament negotiations. There was no desire or intention to do work which should properly be done by the League, or which the Disarmament Conference is undertaking. The purpose of the Premiers rather was to assist the Disarmament Conference to go on functioning. To-day’s conversations were guided solely by that purpose.