Perils of Naval Race

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 550, 31 December 1928, Page 9

Perils of Naval Race

AMERICAN STATESMAN’S FEARS Senator Borah Warns Nations ( United Service) liecd. It. o a.m. WASHINGTON, Sunday. INSTEAD of devoting attentipn to, and concentrating upon building warships, America and Britain might more profitably give some of their time to removing the conditions which seem to make warships necessary, said Senator Borah, in a special interview.

'J'HJS chairman of the Foreign Relations Committe, aq.d the most powerful individual member of the Senate, Senator Borah, spoke first of the almost universal desire of the people of all nations for peace. He regards the “lawless conditions of the sea” at present the most disturbing factor in the peace programme, and sees the need of recodifying and re-establishing the rules which should govern the rights of belligerents and neutrals at sea. “A naval race between America and Britain would be second, in its disastrous effect, to no other war,” he said. “Yet I venture the opinion that a naval race is inevitable unless it can be avoided by a thorough understanding of neutrals’ rights at. sea. The time and situation demand that there shall be a minium right to belligerents, and a maximum right to neutrals. “We still have, of course, speakingnow of peace generally, those advocates of heavy armaments and great armies and navies, who in discussing these matters often used expressions not justified by facts; but the fact remains that the great body of people, of all countries, wish their countries to be at peace. “The world war was brought, on, not by a people, but by a few leaders. The people of none of these countries wanted to be at war with the people of other countries. “It seems to me we may take great comfort In the fact that this is the first holiday season in the whole history of mankind during which we could say that practically all nations of the world had agreed to reject war as an instrument of the settlement of international disputes and had entered a solemn pledge to settle all controversies, of whatever nature 01kind, through peaceful methods.* NAVAL BARGAINING

WHY AMERICANS PRESS CRUISER PROGRAMME SIR MARK SHELDON’S VIEWS In the opinion of Sir Mark Sheldon the proposed larger American Navy is intended as merely a lever in arranging international politics. Sir Mark Sheldon, ex-Australian Commissioner in New York, chairman of the Australian Bank of Commerce, and of Anthony Horden and Sons, Ltd., is in Auckland en route to Sydney after a visit to London, Canada and Amer- “ The proposals are a long way from approved yet,” he remarked this morning, discussing the American naval plans. “They are a longer way from the ships actually being built. “Personally I have formed the opinion, after long acquaintance with the methods of the administrative officers of the United States at Washington, that they are wanting to go into he next conference with something to trade.

“In other words they want the naval building programme passed so that they can say: ‘We will agree to scrap this if other nations come to terms.’ “It is generally recognised that it is no use naval experts trying to come to terms about respective requirements,” remarked Sir Mark. “The matter must be taken out of their hands for final decision if there is to be any satisfactory solution. Leaving it to naval experts is merely the same as

leaving estimates to the heads of Government departments. Each department thinks its estimates ought to go through, and does not pay much attention to the position of the taxpayers.” RISK OF CONFERENCES LEAD TO MISUNDERSTANDING MORE PROPITIOUS FUTURE (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) LONDON. Sunday. In the coLirse of the Navy League’s customary New Year messages, Lord Sydenham, while welcoming any Anglo-American agreement regarding cruiser strength, leaving Britain free to build what her special conditions demand, declares that at present it would be the wisest course not to enter into further conferences, which would be liable to be used to promote a misunderstanding. Attempts to standardise armies and navies would inevitably tend to further competition, which it was desirable to avoid. The League of Nations would better serve the cause of world harmony by postponing disarmament efforts till a more propitious future.