Navies to Melt Away

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 769, 16 September 1929, Page 9

Navies to Melt Away

ANGLO-AMERICAN EFFORTS

High Praise For Statesmen

FIVE-POWER CONFERENCE THIS YEAR British Official Wireless Received 10 a.m. RUGBY. Sunday. WARM congratulations are extended in the Press to the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, and President Hoover on the success of the conversations on naval armament reduction. Advices from Washington, where a great welcome awaits Mr. MacDonald, indicate that the difference still remaining between the British proposals and the American response, as contained in the Note received by the Prime Minister on Thursday evening, would. be left for solution at the fivcPower naval conference to be held in London in December, and that it would be unfair to say the Prime Minister was visiting Washington to bridge this last gap.

Japan, France, Italy and the other Powers signatory to the Washington Treaty will be invited to the conference, at which the United States will propose that the 10-year holiday in the construction of capital ships be extended from 1931 to 1936.

The view,held in Washington is that by 1936 there should be an opportunity for a second conference at which it might be possible to take even greater steps toward a reduction of fighting ships of all categories as, by that time, all the navies of the world will have been stabilised. DISCUSSIONS NARROWED It is officially stated in Washington that the conversations between Britain and the United States on the cruiser question were narrowed down to the proposition whether about 30,000 tons of cruisers should be embodied in three craft carrying 2in. guns, or in four or five smaller ships carrying 6in. guns. This has been left to the December conference to decide. Particular importance is attached by the London press to the view expressed in authorative circles at Washington, that if the outcome of the negotiations which are not yet finally completed is successful, the armament race would be off, not only in cruisers but in all classes of warships. AMERICA’S WISHES The ‘‘Daily Telegraph’s” naval expert suggests that America wishes to claim th|.t Britain’s four cruisers of the Hawkins type should be regarded as equal to the Washington type, whereas they are in no way comparable and really out of date. Britain only has two more 8-incli guncruisers than America, says the correspondent, but the heavier armament of America’s ships gives her superiority in gun-power. The same paper’s diplomatic correspondent says the difference is not a matter of three cruisers, but a question of alternatives.

In connection with the coming visit of Mr. MacDonald to Washington it is hinted unofficially at Downing Street that he may not need to take

more than a suitcase and his bag of golf clubs. This implies that the small outstanding diffences between Britain and America may be bridged before the date of the Prime Minister's departure, September 28, in which case he will not need to be accompanied by a staff of technical advisers. 10-10-7 RATIO SOUGHT JAPAN TO MAKE CLAIM AT CONFERENCE MAY NOT BE OPPOSED Australian and K.Z. Press Association) Reed. 12.5 p.m. TOKYO, Sunday. The Government is awaiting official advices regarding the proposed naval conference in December, which is reported to be announced from Washington, after which the Cabinet will notify Japan’s intention to attend. The delegates probably will be instructed to request a ratio of 10-10-7. A New York message states:— The Washington correspondent of the "New York World” says it was disclosed today that Japan will demand at the five-Power conference an increase in her cruiser strength to the 10-10-7 ratio. Britain and the United States probably will approve. The conference may be called under the auspices of the League. In that event it will be held at Geneva, instead of London. It is believed that Italy and France “would prefer that. The question of parity between Italy and France, with the latter frowning upon Italy's aspirations for an equivalent navy, will be one of the most important under discussion. Further limitations of capital ships following the trend of the Washington Conference seem to be assured. The entire field of the relations betw. i Britain and America is expected to be the subject of the coming conversations between Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Hoover.