DISARMAMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 233, 1 October 1929, Page 7

DISARMAMENT

CONCORD WITH BRITISH PREMIER LEWES CHE FIVE-POWER NEGOTL-TIONS ( British Official Wireless. RUGBY, Sep;. 28. After the thick mist over Sotthampton Water had lifted the Cuna d liner Blprengaria, on which the Priiie Minister and his party are proceeding to the United States, moved ort this morning in bright sunshine. Beth British and American newspapers, commenting on the statement made by the Prime Minister on leaving London last night and upon the cordial ncssage sent him by the King, emphaiisc the national sentiment of goodwil. which attends his mission. The Manchester Guardian says: “It is not merely that he is the first British Prime Minister to go on a diplomatic mission to the head of th) American Government; it is much mtro than that. He is initiating a new mevement in international affairs. He is attempting to put into practice the se mon of war outlawry as first concei r ed in America and finally embodied in the Kellogg Pact. Mr MacDonald End President Hoover have deliberately set themselves to see whether th' pact cannot be made the basis for a& actual reduction in naval armaments.’ The Daily Mail says that ihere is good reason to hope that the Prime Minister’s journey will be irowned with success and cite the un’ortified frontier which runs for thousinds of miles between Canada and the United States as proof that two afferent peoples can trust one another ind dispense with great armaments ia their relations. Tactful Openmindedness The Daily Express says that Nr MacDonald has brought to the solution of the problem the tactful openminledness for which the Americans shoull be as grateful as wc on this side of the Atlantic arc grateful to President Joover. The Daily Chronicle says: “They will start not very far from ai understanding. Wc look to them to ;ome to an agreement which may set tie pace towards the reduction for all naval Powers and between Britain ant America for ever abolish competition in armaments. Cabled extracts of the New York editorials emphasise the American view that Mr MacDonald’s visit is ntt merely for the purpose of negotiating details of an Anglo-American naval agreement, but is rather hr the broader purpose of settling any differences concerning the methods of AngloAmcricn co-operation for the preservation of world-wide peace. The Morning World, for instance, says that an Anglo-American agreement on armaments has aircaty- been reached and adds that were Britiin and America the only sea Powers th ■ issues would be. for all practical jurposes completely. settled. The problem confronting Mr MacDonald and Resident Hoover is to find means of preventing disagreement over questions not direct- . ly between Britain and America, and this involves an understanding of the ' course of action to be taken in the fivePowcr negotiations. Mr MacDonald’s Message The Prime Minister in the efurse of his message to the national ejecutive of the Labour Party which will be read at the opening session of the annual conference to-morrow refers to his mission to America and describes it as the culmination of negotiations and exchanges of views which began when the Labour Party first came into office in June and has assiduously pursutd ever since.

He continues: “I do not want there to be any misunderstanding as to the nature of what wc are attempting. Any agreement we achieve can only be, and is only intended to be, the preliminary to a larger agreement which must be reached in conference with other naval Powers and later on in the Preparatory Commission sitting at Geneva. We are not trying to present any other nation or nations with a fait ficcompli which they must take or leave. What we arc determined to avoid is that the general march forward toward disarmament may be held up in the future, as it has been in the past, while two great naval Powers, ourselves and America, halt by the way to argue about their owir special difficulties. I think wc can now’ say that a kind of agreement necessary to prevent that is well within reach, and I go to meet President Hoover in ' the hope and expectation that the degree of friendly understanding achieved during the many weeks of distant correspondence will be strengthened and rendered closer by a few days of personal contact. I also feel, quite irrespective of the particular points that wo have been discussing, that the establishment of such a contact is immensely to be desired, and nothing could be of more value to international goodwill than mutual confidence between the Government of the United States and of Great Britain.”