THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 September 1928, Page 5

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

GENEVA PARLEY.

OVER ARMAMENTS.

(Australian Press Association) (United Service).

LONDON, Sept. 26.

The culminating disarmament debate at Geneva appears to have satisfied no one. The crux of the resolution, finally adopted lay in a ing proviso that M. Loudon should keep himself informed of the progress of the Powers’ naval negotiations, in order to be able to convene the Preparatory Disarmament Commission at the end'of the year, or in any case, at the beginning of 1929. Mr Locker Lampson (Britain), while reluctantly voting in favour of this, made it clear that the British Government could not accept that view, that the Preparatory Conference be held in. 1929, irrespective of the state of the preparatory work. To summon the Conference, without a preliminary agreement on principle, would be nothing short of a disaster, and might result in an irreparable setback to the cause of disarmament.

Hungary joined Germany in not voting, because the resolution did not fix a definite early date.

A GERMAN VIEW. BONDON, Sept. 26. Reports from Berlin show that in Germany' the Geneva resolution, os to disarmament, is interpreted as presaging failure. “It is the last act in the disarmament farce,’’ says a Nationalist newspaper, while the Socialist press describes the debate as the collapse of disarmament.

The German Moderate Party makes the same implication in milder terms. The German press publishes full reports of Count Bernstoff’s speech, stressing a passage in which he replied to M. Briand’s taunt regarding Germany’s latent belligerent powers. Count Bernstorff declared that Germany had no heavy artillery, no tanks, no military 7 air force and no, reserves or munitions. Her war industries were destroyed, and it would require many months to train new forces, and still longer to. adapt the peace industries to the purposes of war. Germany, he said, would 'be defeated long before these things could be accomplished.

CLOSING SCENES. GENEVA, Sept. 26. Afer voting the Budget, the Assembly Session closed. Zahl (President) expressed the opinion that the Assembly should learn to employ the language of tolerance of the international brotherhood. Thus the League’s workers may seriously build the walls of an edifice, the pinnacles of which would pierce the clouds which hung over the world since the origin of the will at last to reach light. Lord Lvtton, on behalf of India, strongly, deprecated increasing the Budget, especially of the International Labour Office. He urged officers to exercise greater care in expenditure, otherwise India might be compelled to pote against the Budgets The League Council passed a resolution urging all Governments privately to negotiate with a view to reaching an understanding, and thus permit a successful meeting of the Preparatory Comm iissi opr on disnrmement. The Council instructed the Secretary to convene a meeting of the committee for the supervision of private manufacture of war material, prior to next session of the Council, with a view to submission to a special conference to be held simultaneously with the general disarmament conference.