THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1930. THE NAVAL CONFERENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20929, 20 January 1930, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1930. THE NAVAL CONFERENCE.

Great hopes will attend the opening of the Five-Power Naval Conference to-morrow in London. There has been no international conference that has been so extensively and so approvingly heralded, as this one. There has been no international conference of which the deliberations have been conducted so much under the public gaze as seems to be expected with this one.. Necessarily, however, a great deal of the discussions at the Conference must be carried on privately. Delicate negotiations can be effected only behind closed doors, and some of the negotiations. that will he necessary if the Conference is to be fruitful will be of an extremely delicate character. While a distinct feeling of optimism seems to exist on both sides of the Atlantic regarding the outcome of the Conference it would be a profound error —a “ dangerous delusion,” one writer on the subject expresses it—to suppose that success is already the assured result of the meeting of the delegates who have now assembled in London. It is not impossible that any divergence of views between the three major naval Powers’ might admit of an adjustment that would be satisfactory to each of them. It is essential, however, that a scheme for the reduction of naval armaments, if is to be of permanent value, shall brace all the five maritime States s fnat| are to be represented at the Csnfer-|-ence. It is of particular mopfent tol Great Britain that an agreement foe the reduction of naval should Ijc Miu -fcfTT&ch Prance and! Italwdft. States andf Ja}yn/arqffia Jejs. separate in-?, terestaof jEe IMUetrStafeslind Japan]do nef demand "hat there shall be any agreement so cojityrehengiye in nature; as this. Th 4 on/L that really ' conceAj ic LTnited liraieg-ftre those of Great) B itaiu And it is only with the navies of Great Britain md the United States that Japan is concerned. Certain geographical considerations which cannot in any circumstances be ignored by Great Britain are of small moment to these other two countries. The; balance of power in the Mediterranean ■ Sea may be a matter of indifference; to the United States and Japan. Toil Great Britain and the British Empire] it is obviously of the highest -possible] importance that access to the Sueal Canal, a vital artery of the shall never be in danger of interrupt? tion. France and Italy, however,| both ancient naval Powers, each witm its traditions of maritime grandeumi and glory, have their own. views rev] specting naval policy, and the factj that their views conflict rather sharplyj in an important respect with the viewst which the statesmen of the three major*j naval Powers have expressed will, ini all likelihood, render the achievements of an agreement embracing’ all fivw Powers seriously difficult. If suete an agreement cannot be effected, a tri| lateral treaty under which Great Britain, the United States, and Japaij would severally, undertake to reduce their armaments may be suggested] Even to that there may be valid oW jection based on the fact that Grea.l Britain cannot, in the interests of he| own security, disregard development! that may occur in the naval policies of Prance and Italy. Consequently the optimism with which the opening of the Conference is being awaited must be somewhat tempered witn doubt. Yet it is difficult to suppose that the Conference, entered upon witn such high hopes as will descend upon the delegates as they take their seati in Westminster to-morrow, will fail ti achieve at least a fair measure of success. ■ ?