AMERICAN ITEMS. NAVAL POWER.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 August 1929, Page 5

AMERICAN ITEMS.

NAVAL POWER.

(United Pre*> Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright;.

/ (Received this day at 11 a.m.) WASHINGTON, August 1. It is reliably reported that the inspection /of battleship power in the next Naval Reduction Conference will evolve proposals for extending the life of battleships and decreasing,their size, but it is unlikely that the . total abolition of battleships will -be discussed, information shows,,that no official proposal has ever been made here for the complete elimination of this type of craft, despite the tremendous build- • ing expenses faced by the United States and other countries beginning in 1931, under the replacement of ships of the 1922 Capital Ships Treaty. . American officials hold that the twenty-year period set by the 1922 Treaty, as the life of a battleships, is too short, and point out that Britain has three battleships of the Hood type much larger than the American largest and if a reduction is carried out alone the lines proposed by the British after the 1927 Tripartite Conference, Britain will have ships much, more than any. possessed or possible to the United States. - .

MR BORAH’S REQUEST. (Received this day at 11 a.m.) WASHINGTON, August 1. In a statement to-day, Mr Borah (Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate) called on Great Britain to sink some of her ships as a means of reaching parity .with; the American navy. He said Britain had fifty-nine modern cruisers .and America eighteen built or building. Mr Borah was the luncheon guest of President Hoover yesterday, and it is presumed the Naval Limitations * Cor ference was discussed.