NAVAL BILL REJECTED

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 365, 28 May 1928, Page 9

NAVAL BILL REJECTED

U.S. SENATE’S ACTION NOT DISCUSSED AT ALL (United P.A.—By Telegraph—Copyright J (Australian Press Association ) WASHINGTON, Saturday. The Senate to-day rejected the Naval Construction Bill by 44 votes to 22. There is little likelihood of the measure again coming up for consideration this session, as the Senate will on Monday consider a resolution passed by the House of Representatives asking for an adjournment of Congress on Tuesday. The rejection of the bill occurred under peculiar circumstances. Not only did it not receive lengthy consideration, but it was not discussed at all. Legislators are all anxious to leave Washington to “mend their political fences’’ before the party conventions are opened. The Senate dealt quickly with various measures. Much business wall be left undone when Congress is adjourned. On February 23, the Naval Committee of the House adopted a programme authorising the construction of 15 cruisers and one aircraft-carrier, as against the Government’s programme. The cost of the committee’s programme was estimated at £54,800,000. The committee also provided for the definite completion of the new ships. The first was to be laid down within three years from the passage of the Act, and all were to be completed within six years. The aircraft-carrier, 13,800 tons, was to be laid down in two years. The committee adopted a provision authorising the President to suspend the proposed construction wholly or partly if an agreement for a further limitation of naval arms should be reached at a future disarmament conference. The committee rejected the proposal for submarines on the ground that the United States already has more submarine tonnage than any other nation. The bill embodying the modified programme was passed by the Lower House in March. It is this bill which the Senate has now rejected.