HAS ACHIEVED MORE THAN HE HAD HOPED FOR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18887, 11 October 1929, Page 7

HAS ACHIEVED MORE THAN HE HAD HOPED FOR.

MR MACDONALD PLEASED WITH CONVERSATIONS.

(United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyr igh t.) WASHINGTON, October 9. President Hoover and Mr Ramsay MacDonald made a combined statement on Wednesday night.. They announced that their conversations had been based on the assumption that war between the United States and Great Britain had been banished, and that in consequence a satisfactory solution of the old historical problems between the two nations had become possible. While the problems were not specified in the statement there is little doubt that the principal one was the question of the freedom of the seas, which has been the cause of many controversies in the past. President Hoover and Mr MacDonald asserted that “ on the assumption that conflicts between the naval and military forces of the two nations cannot take place, these problems had changed their meaning and character, and their solution in ways satisfactory to both countries had become possible.” A brief explanatory statement by way of an introduction declared that both President Hoover and Mr MacDonald were highly gratified by the keen interest taken by the peoples of both countries in their meeting, and that the two statesmen regarded this as proof of the desire of each nation for a closer Anglo-American understanding. Mr MacDonald said that he had achieved more than he had hoped for in his talks with President Hoover. They had agreed to keep the Kellogg Pact in front of them “ to use for the purpose of coming to an agreement on subjects which had defied agreement up to now.” “ In consequence of that,” continued Mr MacDonald, “ I take with me to London a series of questions, all of which will now be the subject of study by the various departments concerned, and of consideration between the dominions and ourselves, with the object of coming to an agreement upon them.”

Senator Borah, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and a vigorous advocate of freedom of the seas, said that he had enjoyed a “ very satisfactory ” talk with Mr MacDonald at the British Embassy, but he refused to discuss the meeting in detail.—Australian Press Association —United Service.