A PROPOSED COVENANT.

North Otago Times, Volume CVII, Issue 17165, 23 March 1927, Page 5

A PROPOSED COVENANT.

f AnEirilian and N.Z. Pj«^3 Azsoci&ticm.)

(Oab-i-

-Copj rijrht.)

Received Tuesday, 5.5 p.m. GENEVA. March 21. The Preparatory Commit'tee of the Disarmament Conference has ! opened. Viscount Cecil presented a draft convention providing firstlv that the contractants shall inform the Secretary General of the League every, j year the amount they propose spgnding on land, nsa,val and air armaments during the year; second!y, thc limit of their effectiveness; thirdly, the tonnage of any one ship, thc numbcr and tonnage of i all ships, with their class. (The | calibrc of guns must not exceed the I Tignrcs laid down); Ifourtlilv, 'the contractants shall accept the Washington nnval agreement limitation. Air armaments shall be effected by restricting thc numher of aircraft attached to shore bases to fifty. A chapter (leals with the procedure in cases of the violation of i the convention, the duration of which is lcn years. Viscount Cecil said the convention does not propose defmite figures which, remain to hc settled by a confere)icc, possibly in June. The convention does not prevent contractants from increasing their armaments^heyond the figures of the prospective treaty in the case, firstly, of a war in which the contraclant is a belligerent, secondly, a threatened rebellion, thirdlj^, an emcrgency involving serious military operations, and fourthly in case such an increase is agreed' hy4 the League Council. •