The Waikato Times with which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1930. NAVAL CONFERENCE.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17994, 12 April 1930, Page 6

The Waikato Times with which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1930. NAVAL CONFERENCE.

Regret will be widespread that the London Naval Conference, from which so much was expected, has not been completely successful, the attitude of France being primarily responsible for the failure to reach a complete FivePower agreement. Britain, Japan and America have reached a compromise which, it Is claimed, will effectively prevent anything in the way of competitive naval construction between them. This has been made possible by a determination on the part of the three Powers named to face knotty problems with an earnest desire to solve them. That they have done so speaks volumes for their mutual feelings of trust and goodwill. Had that feeling existed in other quarters it is more than probable that a complete agreement wmuld have been reached between all the delegations and a long stride taken towards the goal of disarmament. France, however, is apparently suspicious of one of her neighbours and refused to take risks. Under the circumstances Italy can scarcely be blamed for her refusal to limit her navy to a degree that would render her almost impotent to repel an attack by a Power whose refusal to fall into line indicates the presence of feelings not altogether friendly. Whilst it is pleasing to read of thousands of adversaries in the late war making pilgrimages to battlefields, dramatically swearing friendship and amity and declaring that wars must henceforth cease, it would be much more convincing did the people as a whole, through their Governments, earnestly commit themselves to a movement which above all others is calculated to make war impossible. The Kellogg and Locarno Pacts are excellent in theory, and France, equally with other Powers, has endorsed them. The practical outcome of such theory is along the lines of the London Naval Conference, and here France refused to commit herself, which seems to indicate that either her own peaceful professions are not very real or she refuses to bank on those of her neighbour—a dangerous suspicion. However, it is satisfactory to know that the Conference, far from being a failure, has accomplished good work in several directions, and even if Italy and France are not prepared to traverse the whole road they have covered two-thirds of it and there is still a possibility that they may be induced, in view of the British-Japanese-United Slates agreement, to manifest by works their protestations of faith.