NAVAL CONFERENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20960, 25 February 1930, Page 9

NAVAL CONFERENCE

; nothing definite yet. { ■ MR SNOWDEN OPTIMISTIC. THE OUTLOOK PROMISING. , (British Official Wireless.) (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph— Copyright.) RUGBY, February .23. Mr Philip Snowden (Chancellor of the Exchequer), in a speech last f night at Huddersfield, referred to the work of the Naval Conference. He said that probably some people thought that by this time the conference ought to have arrived at some conclusion, but international conferences never worked - very quickly. From all that he had heard the-outlook at the conference was distinctly promising, and seemed to point to there being some arrangement made by which the tremendous burden of naval expenditure ,would be. considerably lightened. USE OF SUBMARINES. CERTAIN ASPECTS SURVEYED, RUGBY, February 22. The conference stands adjourned. The progress that has been possible in the interval is the preliminary survey of, certain aspects of the submarine question, which had been referred to the legal experts. The speeches made at the plenary session indicated a strong desire on the part of all the delegations to do what was possible to humanise the use of submarines. No question of a limitation of the size of the vessels is before these experts, who had a further informal meeting yesterday, when the Root Convention, which was signed in Washington in 1922, and which, owing to non-ratification by -France, never came into operation, was taken as the starting point for their re- • view. ‘

The convention declared that belligerent submarines are not in any circumstances exempt from the rules applicable to surface vessels, that any submarine , commander who violates any of these rules should be liable to trial and punishment. *°, r an act Piracy, and that the prohibition of the use of submarines as commerce destroyers should be universally accepted as a part of the law of the. nations in view of the practical impossibility of using them in this way and at the same time giving due protection to the -lives’ of neutrals and noncombatants. The legal experts are now considering whether any modification of these principles is considered desirable. NEW FRENCH DELEGATE. ATTITUDE outlined. ;PARIS, 22.--‘--M. Sarraut, who will be a delegate to the London Conference if the Government secures .a majority in the Chamber on ''February 25, visited M. Leygues and assured him of his own approval of M. Tardieu’a standpoint. M. Chautemps also conferred with M. Leygues, who promised acjvice in any way contributing to the defence of the interests of the navy of France. ■ THE FRENCH POLICY. i . RUGBY, February 22. The French Prime Minister (M. Chautcinps) completed his Cabinet last night, and presented the netv Ministers to the President. The new Government will meet the Chamber on Tuesday, and it is anticipated that the delegation to the Naval Conference will leave for-London on Wednesday, The. Minister for Foreign Affairs (M. Aristide Briand) - will head the'delegation, which, as before, will - comprise the Ministers for Marine and the Colonies. The new holders of these offices are M. Sarraut . and M; . , Faraoureux. It was.stated by the Prime . Mimstei that the.GoveiMoßat m\\ tahe • the necessary steps to assure a continuity of policy at the London conference until , the arpivnl of the French delegates. AMERICAN NAVAL ADVISER. ILLNESS FORCES RETIREMENT. ■ LONDON, February 23. . Rear-Admiral Hilary Jones (chief naval adviser to the. American Delegation) is returning to the United States . - owing to illness. , ARTICLE IN DAILY EXPRESS. “COLLAPSE OF CONFERENCE.” LONDON, ‘ February 24. ’ (Received Feb. 24, at B'p.m.) The conference continues to mark time, and the only event of importance during the week-end was the announced departure for America on Wednesday of Rear-admiral H. P. Jones, chief naval adviser to the American delegation. The official spokesman declares that his departure is due solely to illness,- and there is no reason why it should have any effect on the conference. The Daily Express,, which throughout has - taken a somewhat despairing view, to-day features a story by its conference representative, headed “ Naval Conference Collapse,” in which it declares that , the conference is closing down until 1935. It/adds: “This statement will probably be denied by the British spokesman, but nevertheless it is a fact that the conference has failed for the same reason as it did at Geneva in 1927—insufficient preparation and too many fine phrases.” ATTITUDE OF UNITED STATES. TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT. (Special to Daily Times.) WELLINGT*'"' February 24. An explanation of the attitude of the United States towards disarmament was given to-day by Dr C. E. Martin, professor of history and dean of the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Washington. Dr Martin is a through passenger by the Tahiti, which arrived at Wellington this morning en route from Sydney to San Francisco. Dr Martin said that the Government and people of the United States wanted dis armament. They were ready and prepared to disarm by agreement but not by example. “In the United States,” said Dr Martin, “there are two schools of , thought _ with regard to this question. One believes that armaments generate war. They say, ‘Disarm and we will have no war.’ The other school believes that war generates armaments. They , eay, ‘ Get rid' of war as an institution and you will get rid of armaments.’ In other words, you have a security group as against a disarmament group. We are very concerned about this particular conference. We fee! that some responsibility for the failure of the Geneva Conference must fall on the United States. One reason for the failure was the .predominance of the

military mind. That has been remedied and to-day our naval men are there to answer questions and not dictate the policy of the United States." Explaining why the United States had_ held aloof from the League of Nations, Dr Martin said that among the foremost reasons was the fear of political consequences and the disinclination of the American people to commit themselves in advance of contingencies. Again, there were the current disappointments with the League that were found all over the world For one thing, the League had not outlawed War. For another, the territorial guarantee had been practically rejected not only by the United States but bv the members of the League. “ On the other hand,” said Dr Martin . we are participating in the economic, intellectual, financial, and cultural work and in the non-political activities of the League. The time may come when v* will participate in the political activities.”