NAVY IN MEDITERRANEAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18657, 13 March 1924, Page 7

NAVY IN MEDITERRANEAN.

■v;;yv ♦ — BRITISH MANOEUVRES. , HOSTILE FRENCH COMMENT. - . •< | -• V ' DISPLAY OF MASTERY. By Telegraph— Association Copyright. (Received 8.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. ' PARIS. Mar. 11. The" choice of the Balearic Islands, in the Mediterranean, off the east coast of Spain, for manoeuvres of the combined British Atlantic and Mediterranean fleets, which began off Majorca to-day, Admiral Earl Beatty attending, together with the virtual breakdown of the naval disarmament conference at Rome, ,is much commented on in Paris. The Qeuvre says that Britain intends to show that she keeps the mastery of the Mediterranean, and to impress Spam, France, and Italy. /■ This manifestation ot Imperialism is somewhat disconcerting at the moment when Mr. Ramsay MacDonald arises as pacificator of Europe. It coincides with the recent vote in the House of Commons on the laying down of five cruisers and the increase of £2,000,000 in the Air Force estimates. It runs the risk of arousing the suspicion, if not the hostility, ; of Mediterranean Powers. Writing in the Journal, Admiral Deggeuy suggests that the French Government should approach the League of Nations with 1 a view to the neutralisation of the Mediterranean.