PEACE CONFERENCE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8865, 16 July 1907, Page 2

PEACE CONFERENCE.

Pross Association—Copyright. Tiik Hague, July 15. At tire Peace Oonyoutiou the Committee discussed at groat length the transformation of merchantmen into warships. Austria proposed that a vessel once transformed must remain so throughout the war in order to prevent naval hermaphroditism. Germany urged that tho transformation bo prohibited in neutral waters, though permissible in the open sea. Britain contended that tho transformation, being an act of sovereignty, could only be effected at home.

France suggested to put into publication each act of conversion and a notification to neutrals. Tho United States defines “absolute contraband” as arms, ammunition, objects destined for the enemy’s military establishment, and “conditional contraband” as objects which by reason of their quantity and quality, if destined for tho enemy’s use, must be regarded as contraband. Tho United States insist that belligerents supply neutrals with a list of objects regarded as absolute and conditional contraband 24 hours before the right to seize accrues. -