AGAINST WHICH NATION?

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 539, 17 December 1928, Page 9

AGAINST WHICH NATION?

BRITISH NAVY BUILDING U.S. ADMIRAL’S QUESTION (Australian end N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 9 a.m. NEW YORK, Sunday. A reflection from the Senate debate on the Cruiser Bill and the Kellogg Pact, occurred to-day in a debate before the Foreign Policy Association, a private body, which includes many well-known Americans. Admiral C. P. Plunkett arose and asked: “Against what nation is Britain building? It is building against some nation. Now, who is it?” Dr. John Martin, who is of British birth but American citizenship, said: “England is in dread whether if. in fulfilment with the League of Nations’ obligations, she will be brought into conflict with the navy of the United States. Britain is not building against the United States. She is building slowly against an undefined enemy because she sees her food lines are so vulnerable that another European nation may put her in jeopardy.” Admiral Flunkett then asked whether it would not “be a good thing for Britain to come forward and offer the freedom of the seas” to other Americans. He spoke against the Cruiser Bill, declaring that “the United States, with industrial and mechanical wealth, actually suffered from no naval disparity.” It is understood that the President, Mr. Calvin Coolidge, is of opinion that the United States Government is ready to participate in any further deliberations at Geneva of the Preparatory Disarmament Commission on the question of the limitation of armaments.