NAVAL LIMITATION

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 114, 10 April 1930, Page 7

NAVAL LIMITATION

WORK OF CONFERENCE. LONDON CONVERSATIONS.’ SIGNOR GRANDI ILL. (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) Received April 10, 10.50 a.m. RUGBY, April 9. To-day’s conversations between the naval delegates, which were arranged in the hope that chances of a Fivepower agreement might thereby be reviewed, were somewhat impeded by the illness of Signor Grandi (Italy).? Nevertheless, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, Mr Arthur Henderson,' had a long meeting with the Italian Ambassador in the course of the day, and this evening the French and British delegations also met. After the latter meeting, which Ivas held in the Prime Minister’s room at the House of Commons, a brief communique announced that the development of the conversations of the last 24 hours had been examined, and that a further meeting would take place to-morrow. It is understood that this meeting dealt mainly with statistics, as did also conversations earlier in the day between Mr A. V. Alexander and M. Dumesnil, the heads respectively of the British and French admiralties. Meanwhile, progress was being made with other spheres of the conference work. The British American and Japanese experts who nave been examining the reservations of the Japanese Government to the proposals sent to Tokio reached a general agreement on most points at a meeting to-day and will to-morrow deal with one or two matters still outstanding > The special sub-committee appointed by the First Committee to consider the question of aircraft carriers also met to-day under the chairmanship of Mr Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty. Mr Ramsay MacDonald met Mr Baldwin and Mr Lloyd George privately and informed them of the progress of the conference. England and America have agreed to Japan’s earlier replacement of light cruisers and destroyers. The only outstanding point is the transfer of destroyer tonnage to submarines. AUSTRALIAN NaVy. SYDNEY, April 9. The first of the Australian Navy’s obsolete destroyers, the Torrens, was sent to her doom at sea to-day by shellfire. The Torrens made an excellent target for the cruisers Australia and Canberra. AUTUMN MANOEUVRES. Received April 10, 11 a.m. MELBOURNE, April 10. : It is officially announced that H.M.A.S Canberra is leaving for Malta at the end of the Australian winter to join the British Mediterranean fleet in the autumn manoeuvres. A cruiser from the British Navy is to come to Australia. DUTCH SQUADRON. VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND. WELTEVREDEN, April 9. At the beginning of September a Dutch Indian squadron, consisting of one cruiser and two destroyers, commanded by Rear-Admiral C. C. Kayser, will leave Soufabaya on an official visit to Australia and , New Zealand. The squadron will return to Sourabaya at the beginning of December.