SURVEY BY SIMON.

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 39, 16 February 1933, Page 11

SURVEY BY SIMON.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS,

BRITAIN'S PEACE POUCSfi

(British Official Wireless.) .' 7' -: ~j (Received February 16, 1 P-mi.)' RUGBY, February 15. 7 --" International affairs were surveyej _, by tho Foreign Secretary, Sir Joh_s_ Simon, in a speech at Southampton.,. <h » night. . " '; .-■'■''' Referirmgi-.to disarmament, Ke ire*; grett ed that, the Geneva Conference iai '"-. been-unable to make more rapid pro-" gress in its most difficult ; but|;m6st. essential- and urgent-task. .Britain,'; which had already,made great,redue.; tions before the.; conference '.begani 7 was doing everything in; its power t» 7 promote effective international;.agreed 7 ment.-. -.-.'_-■. : "77 ;.'';' After mentioning -the British pro- 7 gramme of work now before .-the. Con- * ference, he proceeded:—"Complicated as the details of any general 7 Dis-7 armament Convention are bound to he^i the fundamental difficulties are not tech- , nical, but political. As long as ieighbour-; ing States .-live in fear of one. another they will hesitate to disarm and excessive' 7 armaments are. too often a measure of 7 that fear.; British'._policy, therefore/ aims not only at giving a lead for the"; international adoption, pf practicalmethods of disarmament, but seeks, by," every means in its power to establish' a sense of confidence a_nd of mutual,understanding between the.nations upon!" which the effective measure of agreed international disarmament must rest."

LAUSANNE AND GENEVA.

"This is the real relation betweeii. our work at Lausanne and our 'workat Geneva. Ever since the Peace" Treaties, the question of reparations has been a menace to European, stability and even to European peace. The, achievement at Lausanne consists "in this: that an agreement was reached between Germany and; her; European creditors which showed how they might arrive at V final' settlement; of : all ! claims .and disputes about reparations and which at once brought about a' marked improvement in the prospect* of more .peaceful co-operation. .'."■• r". •.. "It is most important that we" should not now disurb that prospect. The Lattsannu Agreement .still"--- awaits, final ratification and we simply, cannot afford to do anything- which would render ratification impossible. If the reparations question were to be reopenedconfidence throughout the world would' be further undermined and the fall in prices and the economic distress of tho world accentuated." ; '