DISARMAMENT ISSUE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20024, 14 August 1928, Page 9

DISARMAMENT ISSUE.

BRITAIN'S LEAD TO NATIONS. PRINCIPLE OF KELLOGG PACT. British Wireless. RUGBY, Aug. 12. References to Ihe disarmament question were made by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. "VV. C. Bridgernan, in a speech at Hellifield, Yorkshire, last evening. He said Britain had done more in this direction than any other Power. She was prepared to do still more. The proposal of the United States Secretary of State, Mr. F. B. Kellogg, for a multilateral pact to outlaw war was, in fact, only another way of proposing what he (Mr. Bridgernan) had proposed at Geneva a year ago on behalf of the British Government. When Mr. Kellogg explained what he meant by the outlawry of war he showed that his idea was thai no nation which signed the pact should use war as an instrument of national policy. That was a perfectly plain statement, with which the speaker said he cordially agreed. It meant that each nation could take whatever measures it thought fit for its own defence, but that each nation would be bound in honour not to have recourse to arms in order to carry out an aggressive policy. That was almost exactly the same in principle as Britain had proposed at Geneva, namely, that aggressive naval warfare should be considered entirely out of court, and that the Powers should come to an agreement on the question of what vessels each wanted for its own selfdefence. The Kellogg pact was a very long step in the right direction. Referring to (ho compromise readied between Britain and France regarding proposals for a. basis of naval arms limitation, Mr. Bridgernan said that at previous meetings of the Preparatory Committee on Disarmament a good deal of difference had been revealed between the French view and that of Britain. Since then they had hac conversations with French representatives and by concessions on both sides they had arrived at an agreement which they hoped would be accepted by all the other nations. This compromise had nothing to do with the Kellogg pact, but it would make it perhaps easier in future to arrive at some agreement at the Disarmament Conference at Geneva.