NELSON DAY DINNER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20586, 8 December 1928, Page 27

NELSON DAY DINNER.

MR AMERY ON COMPROMISE. PROBLEM OF CRUISERS. GREATEST INSTRUMENT FOR PEACE. (From Ora Own • Correspondent.) LONDON, October-25. Lord Linlithgow presided at the. Nelson Day dinner this year. The Right Hon! L. S. Amery was the chief guest and proposed the principal. toast “ the glorious knd immortal memory, of Nelson and his comrades,” The dining hall of the Trocadero Restaurant, where the dinner was held was hung with the signal flags which made up Nelson’s famous message to his fleet. In response to a message of loyalty from the League, the King sent the following telegram:— "The King sincerely thanks you for your message of good wishes which you have addressed to his Majesty.- It is especially gratifying to the King to receive the renewal of such assurances of loyalty and devotion from members of the Navy League gathered together to-night to do honour to the memory of Lord Nc’on.” ’ 'The; British Empire, said Mr Amery, stood for peace for itself and the whole world, and they had to strike the- right balance between upholding unflinchingly our own security and yet making a real contribution to the peace of the-world. That had been the great task of statesmanship since the -war. He could say that never in history had the/training or the organisation or. the Spirit of the navy been better than it was to-day.— (Cheers.) We had given a lead to the world in the .reduction .of armaments, and we had shown ourselves desirous for peace. There were two possible methods of achieving disarmament—one was by example, which was, perhaps, the best, and the other was by negotiation and bargaining. We had so reduced our navy that it was no little , more than half what it was before the war, and in man-power barely two-thirds. The method of negotiation and bargaining was more difficult and more dangerous. When they attempted to fix definite numbers and definite ■ sizes in ships they at once launched out on a senes of comparisons, and at once tended to create ah atmosphere of suspicion. It was only in very exceptional circumstances that they could arrive at disarmament by bargaining. Those exceptional circumstances were present seven years ago at the Washington Conference, where the three great naval Powers had no direct conflicting interests and it was possible to lay down limitations which in practice, meant that each denied itself the right of waging' aggressive war in .the immediate vicinity of the other. ' -

GENEVA NAVAL CONFERENCE. There is left on one side the problem of cruisers and the policing of sea routes and the guarding of trade. After the Washington Agreement there was a renewal of a race in armaments, and they tried at Geneva to find a solution. They, put forward‘proposals in good faith involving a reduction in offensive power and in cost that they believed the world would welcome. They suggested that the high-power offensive cruisers should be limited to a figure that might be agreed, and that for police, purposes they should have smaller cruisers. They were willing ~ that ihes% cruisers should be left unfixed in numbers, or, if fixed, fixed at -a figure that would take account of the innumerable points that we had to guard. The argument of the United States was that yre could afford comparatively small cruisers and small range because we had sb many naval bases, while they i had'to operate" everywhere and required cruisers of longer-; range and larger size. ' For the moment the negotiations had proved abortive.. We then began to go on with a proposition in regard to general disarmament, and, expressing a personal view, he was not 1 sure that' we ’ would not have been better advised in the interests of peacq to stand outside so immense a task. We were bound, , however, to try and bring the hegotia- ‘ tions to some sort of conclusion, and when after a deadlock we ‘ were approached by the French with a suggestion of something to form a reasonable compromise we were bound to consider it and also communicate it to others. NO SECRET DIPLOMACY.

We had been accused of > a policy of secret diplomacy, but there was no secret as between the Powers. We had been, accused of conspiring with France. to present to the United States a joint policy unacceptable to them. We had in fact no interest in, nor any desire to combine with any. Power in the world to present a naval programme to others. On the contrary, the reason that made us look favourably on the French proposal was that we believed it went a considerable way towards meeting the American objections at Geneva in regard to the limitation- of the range of 'cruisers. Our efforf at did not seem to have been understood; but we had still to go on trying to see whether, consistent with the maintenance of our essential interests, we could not find such a compromise as would meet the views of the United States and the other great naval Powers. At least we could not be blamed' for maintaining regard to the essentials of our naval defence.—that was a sacred trust which no Government had the right to throw away.— (Cheers.) AN INSTRUMENT OF PEACE. . 'The chairman, in proposing the toast of -His Majesty's Dominions Overseas," said that the Empire was born in the sea; and by sea power'she had been maintained. Those who had had the privilege of visiting the dominions would realise, that-the* way they supported Great Britain in peace time was even more striking than the way they supported her in times of trouble. Referring to the subject of disarmament, Lord Linlithgow said it was well to remind ourselves that a great' system such as the British Empire was not in the least likely to pass in easy and peaceful stages to dissolution, and there was nothing more likely than that such a- dis solution would bring «.bout half a century of conflict upon the world. In the British Navy they had an instrument for peace second to none in the world Mr Walter Greenacre, 0.8. E. (President of the Natal Branch of the Navv League) replied to this toast. In comparing what' was being done for the navy by the respective dominions he said that every member of the League should cheer New Zealand. In proposing the toast of the Imperial Forces of the Crown, Sir Cyril S. Cobb spoke of the educational film that the League would shortly be showing throughout the Empire. Thankß to the assistance given by the Admiralty, the film would be thoroughly representative of modern life in the navy and also entirely up-to-date. Vice-Admiral Sir Alfred E. Chatfield, Lieut-General Sir Herbert C. Uniacke, and Air-Marshal C. L. Lamb replied to this toast. Lady Cowan proposed the toast of the visitors.. The fact that this was the first time, a woman had been asked to speaic at the annual dinner, she said, was sufficient reward for what the Ladies' Committe had been able to do. From an educational point of view alone thero was no finer school of training, she said) than the navy. There was no better school for moulding the national character and inculcating the virtues of discipline, honour, loyalty, and obedience.