The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times MONDAY, JUNE 27, 1932. DISARMAMENT.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 June 1932, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times MONDAY, JUNE 27, 1932. DISARMAMENT.

'J’he recent proposals made by Mr Hoover, I'lVoiucut of United States in connection w.th tile leduction 01 armaments Ik.ij caused the work of the Disarmament (J.u.fVivnce to assume considerably more importance tlian had been aciaened to its operations, owing to there being .every prospect of a deadlock among the attending parties. Expert opinion has always been a otumb.ing block at disarmament conferenes and in these discussions it has been even more ill fluent.al than usual because qualitative disarmament lias been accepted a.j the most promising method of approach. When, after a singularly unpropitious start, the Conference re-opened on Ap.il lltli., Mr Gibson, the leader of the United States delegation, urged that, as the’ Kedcgg •taut and other muiti taterni agreements forbade aggressive warfare, a beginning should be made by eliminating weapons which could have no other than an aggressive purpose. Followed by statesmen this suggestion might have led to' a useful fine of advance. Teased by the experts, who have been hard at work proving ‘ that every weapon even invented is aggressive it had led no Where but to a quagmire which threatened to engulf the Conference, T’lie French delegation has consistently opposed Mr Gibson’s thesis and there is some truth in M. Tardien’s contention that- the distinction between aggressive and defensive armaments will not stand much presur. But Mr Hoover’s ,scheme, it will be noticed, combines the qualitative and tile quantitative methods. Tank's, chemical warfare, large mobile guns, and bombing aeroplanes are to be, abolished, while at the same time land amnios are to be l reduced by onethird and the naval tonnages fixed at Washington by one-third for eome classes of ships and one-quarter for others. From the .technical point of view these proposals are open to several important but not insuperable objections. It is doubtful, for instance, whether the abolition of aeroplanes specifically constructed for bombing would much diminish the risk of bombardments from the air. Commercial aeroplanes are so easy to convert that they must, be, regarded as military reserves. Moreover a proposal to reduce land armies by a third is almost meaningless unless related to the question of conscription and trained reserves. But the greatest objection to Mr Hoover’s scheme is that, to sonic nations, and particularly to France, it will seem unpleasantly like an ultimatum. The scheme, however, is now well before the world, and the discussions that follow will prove of decided interest, even if the objective aimed at is not successfully attained' at once,