DISPUTE OVER CRUISERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 92, 9 July 1927, Page 9

DISPUTE OVER CRUISERS

ANXIETY CAUSED BIG NAVAL CONFERENCE DELEGATES STILL HOPEFUL British Wireless. — Copyright. Reed. 11.48 a.m. RUGBY, Friday. The United States delegate, Mr. Hugh Gibson, in an interview with the Press, frankly admitted that differences on the cruiser question were causing anxiety, but he added that there was among all the delegates an earnest desire to find a way out, and he was hopeful that this would result. He denied that the Americans were preparing to return home. On the contrary, their passages had been booked for August 9, but even that date, if necessary, could be altered. . Mr. W. C. Bridgeman, First Lord of the Admiralty, in a statement to-day to the journalists attending the Geneva Naval Conference, said in regard to the rumours of a breakdown that he was more hopeful to-day than a week ago. With the goodwill of everyone concerned, he was sure that the results already obtained would prove useful, and that a step forward was possible even as to capital ships. He maintained that the only way of preventing competition and reducing armaments was to limit the size of vessels in all categories, because every nation would always build up to the maximum size. In the same way, the offensive power of a navy could only be reduced by decreasing the size of ships and guns. If the British proposals were accepted they would mean an enormous saving.—A. and N.Z.