ARBITRATION TREATY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 576, 31 January 1929, Page 9

ARBITRATION TREATY

REASON FOR DELAY DOMINIONS’ CONSIDERATION British Official Wireless Reed. 12.26 p.m. RUGBY, Wed. In the House of Commons to-day the Foreign Secretary was ashed whether all replies were now to hand from the several Dominion Governments on the subject of the American draft of the new arbitration treaty between the United States and Great Britain. Sir Austen Chamberlain replied that the Government had not received the answer of one of the Dominion Governments to inquiries addressed to all of them last March. The replies of two other Dominion Governments were only received during the last few weeks. In this connection, he said it should be remembered that the attention of all our Governments was, for a considerable part of last year, concentrated on the negotiations for the Treaty for the Renunciation of War which it was necessary to bring to a successful conclusion before taking up more closely the arbitration treaty. The British Government was now engaged in a careful examination and comparison of the observations of the Dominion Governments, as well as of material which it had collected, collected. - They attached the highest importance to obtaining a complete agreement among all his Majesty’s Governments, and a further exchange of opinions would he necessary before they could send a definite reply. He might add that this treaty was of great importance as it would presumably form a model for many others.