GENEVA PROTOCOL.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18236, 21 November 1924, Page 9

GENEVA PROTOCOL.

BRITAIN ASKS FOR. TIME. ACTION DOES NOT MEAN SCRAPPING. (by CABLE—PEESS ASSOCIATION—COrYBIttST) (reuter's telegrams.) LONDON, November 19. It is understood that the British Government's request for postponement of discussion by the League Council will in no way mean the scrapping of the Disarmament Protocol.

The position is that the short time available before the meeting of the Council on December Bth is not considered sufficient to givo opportunity for th© fullest consideration of such an important matter iri consultation with the Dominions. There is no ctesiro to turn down the present scheme without the substitution of a constructive plan.

SUBSTITUTION LIKELY. A NEWSPAPER VIEW. (ACSTaALIAK ASD K.Z. GASLS ASSOCIATION.) (Eeeoivcd November 20th, 10.45 p.m.) LONDON, November 20. The diplomatic correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph," defending his oarlier statement that the Geneva Protocol would be scrapped, contends that the semi-official denial includes a suggestion for the substitution of a constructive plan, which is precisely what ho had in mind.

Furthermore, in view of the fact that tho attitudo of the Dominions is already known, he assumed, and must still assume, that the outcome of any consultation will bo tho abandonment of the Protocol in favour of some more acceptable security scheme.

INTEREST IN U.S.A. (rEUTEB'S TBLECaAMS.) (Received November 20th, 8.45 p.m.) WASHINGTON, November 20. The British request" that tho discussion of the Geneva Disarmament Protocol be <Teferred, haa aroused interest in administrative circles. •The first impression was that tho Disarmament Conference project might be imperilled; but later explanatory despatches from London seemed to clarify tho situation somewhat, representing Mr Baldwin as merely desirous of delay, in order that British opinion could be formulated with greater care.