SENATE AND THE TREATY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16681, 13 March 1922, Page 2

SENATE AND THE TREATY.

DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT, MR HUGHES REPLIES TO CRITICS, By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Australian and N.Z. Table Association. WASHINGTON, March 11. Senator Lodge has notified the Senate he will oall up the Pacific Treaty on Saturday and keep the Senate in continuous session until a vote is obtained. Senator Robinson moved an amendment binding the four Powers to refrain from aggression and providing that , when a controversy arises which is not settled diplomatically. nil the nations concerned shall be invited to a conference. The adroinisti ation leaders have decided it is necessary to press the treaty with the utmost persistence to obtain a voto in face of the filibustering tactics of the opposition. Answering attacks on the authorship of the Pacific Treaty, Senator Lodge told Senate the treaty was very much in the mind of the American delegation some time before the negotiations began. He disclosed the fact that at the time Mr Hughes was denying such a compact was contemplated, it was actually under discussion among the delegates to Washington. DEMOCRATIC LEADER. IN SUPPORT. DEFEAT A BACKWARD STEP. WASHINGTON, March 11. Senator Underwood. (Democratic) one of the American delegates at the Washington Conference, said Democrats would support the. Pacific Treaty. He declared its defeat would be a backward step in the nation’s life and ratification would eliminate any real cause of war. Criticism of the treaty based in the inclusion only of four Powers lacked force because those Powers were the only ones capable of disturbing the peace of the Orient within the next decade. He declared the Pacific Treaty was a better guarantee for the Philippines than fortifications or navies. “ I have yet to find a man." he said, “ informed on naval matters who does not admit tiiat if we became involved in a war witli a. first-class naval Power, in the beginning it would ho impossible for us to protect the Philippines from a successful attack.” Senator 1 Inderwood read a letter from Mr Hughes which created a stir amongst the full Senate and crowded galleries and added: “ There is a feeling in the world that the United States cannot make a compact and be bound by it. 1 will not stand in the way of reservations which will not destroy the treaty terms. I will accept Senator Brandegee’s reservations but Senator Robinson’s reservations would destroy the treaty terms. MR HUGHES” LETTER, CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE TO RATIFY. Mr Hughes, writing to Senator Underwood, leader of the Democrats m

the Senate, declared that failure to ratify the Pacific Treaty would ho nothing abort of a national calamity. Ho said : “It seems.to be implied in some way that the American delegates have been imposed upon, or that they were induced to accept some plan cunningly contrived by others and opposed to our interests. Apart from reflection upon the competency of the American delegates, such intimations betray a very poor and erroneous conception of the Conference work, no part of which, whether within or outside the meetings. was begun, prosecuted or concluded in intrigue. Long before the Conference met. the stand of the United States that the Anglo~.Tapane.se Alliance should be abrogated had been communicated to the Powers concerned.” NO SECRET NOTES. Mr Hughes declared it had also been j made clear that the United States , could enter no alliance or make any j commitment to the use of arms which ! would im]K>se any such obligation. As I to its decision in future controversies, he asserted that there were no secret | notes or understandings connected

with treaty framing, but declared that the Pacific Treaty was the result of suggest ions by the representatives of the Governments concerned, but international amenities prevented him revealing detailed discussions on the drafts submitted. He assured Senator Underwood that o full disclosure of the negotiations would reveal nothing contrary to the traditional policies of the United States Government.

JAPANESE VIEWS. A FAR-FETCHED MEANING. TOKIO, March 11. Admiral Kato, Minister of Marine and Mr Masanao Hanihara have arrived. They were heavily guarded and no demonstration was attempted. Admiral Kato, answering criticisms. denied that the Japanese delegates were under foreign pressure. He added that while some details of the Washington results were unsatisfactory to Japan, generally speaking, all the nations were satisfied. Prince Tokugawa, in a speech, declared the critics of the Pacific Treaty were trying to read into its very plain terms some moral pledge binding nations to war a a well as to peace. That, interpretation, he said, was too f a, ‘ fetched to need repudiation. (Prince Tokugawa- was head of the Japanese delegation to Washington. He is President of the House of Peers. Mr Hamhara, Vice-Minister of foreign Affairs, was secretarv to the delegation.)

TROOPS IN SHANTUNG. JAPA N ESE WIT DR AW A L TOKIO. March 11. Cabinet has. decided to begin the withdrawal of Japanese troops from Shantung on April 1