Naval Disarmament

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 750, 24 August 1929, Page 11

Naval Disarmament

IMPORTANT FORWARD STEP Britain and Her Cruisers UNITED STATES NOW GIVES WAY (United P.A.—By Telegraph Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Received 11 a.m. LONDON, Friday. IT is understood that in the course of the Dawes-MacDonald conversations it was indicated on behalf of President Hoover that the United States had considerably modified its ideas regarding Britain’s demands for cruisers policing seas. Apparently the United States, now the principle of parity has been admitted, is willing to let Britain have whatever small cruisers she considers necessary adeqiiately to protect the Empire trade routes.

It also indicated that objection will no longer be raised concerning merchantmen as potential warships. These modifications are of considerable importance, as the deadlock regarding cruisers was principally responsible for the failure of the Geneva Conference. A British Official Wireless message says:—The Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, today received the freedom of Elgin, the capital of his native county. General C. G. Dawes, the American Ambassador, who was present at the ceremony, referred to his conversations rvith Mr. MacDonald last week. One should remember, he said, that although the naval disarmament negotiations might have advanced satisfactorily, they might not necessarily have reached a stage where they could usefully be discussed in detail by the Press. The arbiter of the ultimate fate of this effort would be the public sentiment of the respective countries, and time must be taken to reduce to their very simplest terms before there was

any public discussion of the problems involved, so that the average man could better understand what it was all about. If the problem were not mastered so that its final solution was clear and satisfactory to the average man, even though Governments might come to preliminary agreements. Parliaments and Congresses might not ratify those agreements in the end. It must be realised that one unforgivable thing now would be inadequate preparation for the proposed naval conference.