DISARMAMENT PRACTICABLE, ASSERTS CECIL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18008, 19 November 1926, Page 10

DISARMAMENT PRACTICABLE, ASSERTS CECIL.

BELIEVES INTERNATIONAL SCHEME WOULD BE A SUCCESS, HE SAYS. By Telegraph.—. Press Assn.—Copyright. “ Sydney Sun ” Cable. LONDON, November 17. In the House of Lords, Lord Parmoor drew attention to the mandates and disarmament, apropos to the Geneva decisions. He urged that the attitude of Britain was an essential factor in the success of disarmament, and the Government should enlarge' the area in which it was willing to avail itself of arbitration. Regarding mandates, Lord Parmoor asked the Government whether it agreed with the Gover-nor-General of New Zealand that the first consideration of a Mandatory Power was the ultimate benefit of the inhabitants of the mandated territory. Lord Oxford said that substantial efforts were made for the cause of peace under the Washington and Locarno Agreements, but Washington left land, aircraft and submarines un-

touched. The disarmament of Germany. in view of the signatories to the Treaty of Versailles, was regarded as the first step in general disarmament, but the advance had since been small. Lord Oxford contended that the use of chemical and bacteriological agencies in war should be prohibited, also submarines. The first thing should be to limit peace time armaments. Lord Cecil agreed that chemical warfare and submarines should be abolished, but there was no unanimity of opinion regarding submarines. The discussions, however, showed that disarmament was quite a practicable thing, and he was sanguine about the prospects of the international disarmament scheme.