DISARMAMENT ISSUE.

Waikato Times, Volume 112, Issue 18807, 1 December 1932, Page 7

DISARMAMENT ISSUE.

DISCUSSED BY PEERS. VISCOUNT CECIL’S STATEMENT. BRITAIN AND MANCHURIA. United Press Assn. —Elec. To). Copyright. LONDON, NOV. 29. IQ' the House of Lords to-day Viscount Cecil requested the Government to make a statement of its policy on disarmament and the Sino-Japanese dispute. He said he agreed that equality of status for Germany was the only road to success in disarmament. , , Mr Winston Churchill’s _ suggested territorial rearrangements in Europe, without disarmament, would be distrusted by the peoples and disastrous, said Lord Cecil. The British disarmament proposals w'ere a long way short of Mr Baldwin’s recent speech, and seemed to invite other nations to reply in the negative. The Marquess of Reading said he hoped the Government would press for reductions of expenditure on armaments as the most effective means of disarmament. This would help Britain’s relations with the United States and other countrTes.

Viscount Hailsham, Secretary of State for War, replied that he was not in a position to make a statement on general policy. Britain was using her influence in the League toward a satisfactory settlement of the Manchuria dispute. The Government believed that disarmament could best he achieved by unformal preliminary exchanges of opinion between the principal Powers. Lord Hailsham said he hoped in the next few days to produce conditions which would lead lo German’s rejoining the Disarmament Conference. JAPAN’S PROPOSALS. SUBMISSION NEXT WEEK. United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright. GENEVA, Nov. 29. Japan probably will ’ present her naval proposals to the Disarmament Conference next w r eek. These emphasise the limitation of the tonnage of capital ships to 25,000 and may concede 12in. .instead of 14in. armament. The proposals insist on the maintenance of submarines but suggest the abolition of aircraft carriers. The general aim is the reduction of vessels capable of long distance offensive while leaving Japan in a position to defend herself.