All Cards on the Table

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 770, 17 September 1929, Page 9

All Cards on the Table

ANGLO-AMERICAN NAVIES Difference Margin Stated CRUISER QUESTION FOR THE POWERS British Official 'Wireless Received 11.35 a.m. RUGBY, Monday. rE small margin of difference between Britain and the United States that still remains to he settled in the naval negotiations will not be discussed at next month’s historic meeting of Mr. Ramsay MacDonald and President Hoover at the White House.

These differences will be taken up at the conference in London, to which the five naval Powers, which are signatories of the Washington Convention of 1921, have been invited. The scope of the conference will be much ■wider than has been generally supposed. It is now settled that the conference should be the adjourned Washington Conference, which would not otherwise have met until 1931. Both America and Britain feel that the naval Powers would probably like to have under consideration the whole problem, including fir3t-class battleships, limitation of which had been settled up to that date. The Powers will therefore be invited to come to London to discuss the whole question of naval disarmament, and may take a further substantial step in this direction, and then go to the League of Nations’ Preparatory Committee on Disarmament to dealt with land and air disarmament. * Even if the step taken toward naval disarmament proved smaller than the British Government would wish, a world agreement on building, although not a single ship were taken off the sea, would be an immense advance. PROPOSALS EXPLAINED As to the position between Britain and the United States, the January conference will give an opportunity for revising some parts of the agreement which have been the subject of conversations during recent months. It is emphasised that in any case the terms of such an agreement must be subject to the five Powers’ conference being in concurrence with it. Britain at present has 58 cruisers built and building, and under the new proposals they will be scaled down to 50 by 1936, which is taken as the standard year. In 1933 the situation would be reviewed, ’fhe intervening years will give an opportunity for a peace experiment. If in 1933 it is found that such an experiment is not justified, that the hoped-for increase of the peace spirit has not materialised, and that the figures of 1929 do not give the necessary margin of safety, demands could be put forward tor increases in 1933. If no change has in the meantime taken place, naval strengths could be continued on the 1929 basis. If, on the other hand, it was found that such a figure was much too big, another reduction could be made. The absence of naval rivalry between Britain and America has contributed substantially to the success of the conversations which have recently been in progress. The British Board of Admiralty has never, either under the late Administration or under the present Government, taken America into account in devising its programme. Britain has certain responsibilities to bear and the Board of Admiralty has always been bound to provide for certain possibilities—the situation that developed so rapidly in Palestine, for example. To meet these responsibilities, a certain fleet standard had been worked out, and the present British Government would irr any event have reviewed the whole position to see how far it had been constructed to meet these responsibilities and nothing else. NO OBJECTION TO PARITY No objection was raised to America’s parity. In addition to parity, America wanted to reduce expenditure, and Britain also desired to reduce expenditure, but not below a point at which she could fulfil her responsibilities. The point was therefore reached for discussing how America and Britain could satisfy the two requirements, parity and reduction. In reviewing the situation, it was at the outset agreed that an effort at disarmament must have a political foundation. The work was Started, therefore, with the Kellogg Pact as the basis of any agreement to be reached. A survey showed that there were broadly three classes of warships to be considered: Firstly, there were the first-class battleships limited by the Washington Agreement of 1921. Secondly, there were cruisers, divided into S-inch gun cruisers of roughly 10,000 tons, and 6-inch gun cruisers whose tonnage has recently become recognised at about 6,500 tons. Thirdly, there were destroyers and submarines. SUBMARINE ELIMINATION

It became clear during the negotiations that a settlement regarding destroyers must depend very largely upon what the other Powers built, but it was agreed that as between Britain and America, in destroyers there should be an eventual parity. As to submarines, it was found that America, like Britain, should welcome their elimination. The only difficulty throughout the conversations has been the cruisers. Exploration of the problem was un-

dertaken, and tentative proposals were advanced by both sides. CRUISER DIFERENCES The position now is that an exceedingly narrow margin remains, upon which an agreement has not yet been reached. The margin is involved in two factors —firstly, the total cruiser tonnage; secondly, the use that can be made of a margin of about 24,000 or 30,000 tons of vessels. In view of the narrowness of this margin, it is regarded as incredible that there could be a break. Britain has stated her final requirements at 50 cruisers, of which 15 carry Sin. guns and 35 carry 6in. guns, with a total tonnage of 339,000. The United States proposals are for 21 cruisers carrying S-inch guns, and 15 carrying 6-inch guns—a total of 315,000 tons. Britain would like the American 8-inch gun cruisers reduced to 18 and her total tonnage to 300,000 tons. The margin of difference is, therefore, three 8-inch gun cruisers, and the view held in authoritative British circles is that an agreement on that point does not depend finally on the AngloAmerican negotiations. Inquiry as to whether the conference would deal with the naval bases, including Singapore, was stated to be a question hitherto not mentioned or likely to be. It is a matter for discussion later. FLEETS OF THE PACIFIC NEW ZEALAND INVITED TO CONFERENCE PROPOSALS BY JAPAN Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) Reed. 9 a.m. LONDON, Monday. It is officially announced that Australia and New Zealand will be invited to be separately represented at the Five-Powers Naval Conference, to be held probably in the middle of January. It will be a replica of the Washington Conference. It is authoritatively stated that the outstanding margin in the AngloAmerican naval negotiations consists of America's desire for three extra 10,000-tonners and Britain’s wish, that America should reduce her aggregate tonnage by 15,000 tons. It is understood that the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, is sanguine that they will he able to bridge both difficulties during the Washington visit. The naval corespondent of the "Daily Telegraph” minutely examines the bearing of the Anglo-American discussions on other fleets, notably that of Japan, which he remarks is of prime interest to Australia and New Zealand. Although Japan is reported to desire a ratio of 5-5-35 in non-capital ships, says the writer, under the existing ratio she would need to scrap some of her cruisers, of which she had 7,000 tons mora than America. Japan’s 22 cruisers aggregating 212,000 tons with 104 Bin guns and 13S 6in or olin makes her easily second to Britain in strength. ANGLO-AMERICAN ENTENTE? A message from Paris says the French Press is keenly discussing the impending naval conference. It asks: Is Britain working for an Anglo-Ameri-can Entente or an Anglo-Saxon Federation ? _ France will not be. content to be on the same footing as Italy in any new naval scale.