WAR OUTLAWRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 231, 30 September 1929, Page 7

WAR OUTLAWRY.

MISSION TO AMERICA Ultimate Aim Behind MeetingPresident Hoover. ME. MacDONALD'S MESSAGE. (Britii-h Official Wireless.) (Received 12 noon.) RUGBY, September 29. After the thick mist over Southampton water had lifted the Cunarder, Berengaria, on 'which the Prime Minister and his party are proceedino- to the United States, moved out yesterday morning in bright sunshine. Both British and American newspapers, commenting on the statement made by the Prime Minister on leaving London last night, and upon the cordial message sent to him by the King, emphasise the national sentiment of goodwill which attends his mission. The "Manchester Guardian" save: "It is not merely that he is the first British Prime Minister to go on a diplomatic mission to the head of the American Government. It is much more that he is initiating a new movement in international affairs. He is attempting to put into practice the sermon of war outlawry as first conceived in America, and finally embodied in the Kellogg Pact. Mr. Mac Donald and President Hoover have deliberately set themselves to see whether the pact cannot be made the basis for actual reduction in naval armaments." The "Daily Mail" says t.hat there is rrood reason to hope that the Prime Minister's journey will be crowned with success, and cites the unfortified frontier which runs for thousands of miles between Canada and the United States as a proof that the two different peoples can trust one another and dispense with great armaments in their relations. The "Daily Express" says: "Air. MacDonald has*brought to the solution of the problem a tactful openmindedness for. which the Americans should be as fateful as we on this side of the Atlantic are grateful to Mr. Hoover."

The "Daily Chronicle" says: "The}6tart not very far from an understanding. We look to them to come to an agreement which may set the pace towards reduction for all naval Powers, and, between Britain and America, for ever abolish competition in armaments."' American View. Cabled extracts of New York editorials emphasise the American view that Mr. Mac Donald's visit is not merely for the purpose of negotiating details of an Anglo-American naval agreement, but is rather for the broader purpose of settling any differences concerning thb methods of Anglo-American co-operation for preservation of world-wide peace. The "Morning World," for instance, says that an Anglo-American agreement on armaments has already been reached, and adds that were Britain and America the only sea Powers the issue would be, for all practical purposes, completely settled. The problem confronting Mr. Mac Donald and President Hoover is to find a means of preventing a disagreement over questions not directly between Britain and America, and this involves an understanding of the course of action to be taken in the five-Power negotiations. * . The Personal Toucli. The Prime Minister in the course of a message to the national executive 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 the negotiations and exchanges of view begun when the Labour party first came to office in June and assiduously pursued ever since. He continues: "I do not want there to be any misunderstanding as t- th* nature of what we are attempting. Any agreement we achieve can only be, and is only intended to be, a preliminary to a larger agreement which must be reached in conference with the 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 accompli which they nnist take or leave. "What we are determined to avoid is that the general march forward towards 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 own special difficulties. I think we can now say that the kind of agreement necessfy to prevent that is well within reach and I go to meet President Hoover in the hope and expectation that the de.<?ree of friendly understanding, achieved during many'weeks of distent correspondence will be strengthened and rendered closer by a few days of personal contact. "I also feel, quite irrespective of the particular points we 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 Governments of the United States and of Great Britain."