AMERICANS PATIENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 912, 4 March 1930, Page 9

AMERICANS PATIENT

HOPEFUL OF NAVAL REDUCTION RESUMPTION ON FRIDAY British Official Wireless Reed. 1.30 p.m. RUGBY, Monday. Mr. Charles Adams, Secretary of the United States Navy and delegate to the conference, in a speech broad-' cast to America from London yesterday, said that the reconciliation of British, French and Italian viewpoints had been delayed by the failure' of the French Government, but nothing has been lost by that except time, for when the French delegates came back the discussion of these matters could begin again where they were left off some days ago. He added: "We are here to sit until we settle. We believe that we ab 4 the Japanese are coming nearer to an understanding. We have as much time as anybody, and America can afford considerable patience, for It is well to remember' that several of the other nations represented here have much more complicated problems of security than we have, and a few days more or less .is nothing compared with the value of arriving at a solution in a calm and unruffled state of mind.” Mr. Adams said that America wanted a fleet no larger than was necessary for practical security. If as is generally expected M. Tardieu’s new Government receives the confidence of the French Chamber on Wednesday, the French delegates will cross to London on the following day and the full proceedings of the, conference will be resumed on Friday. A meeting of the heads of the delegation in London, which the French Ambassador, M. Fleuriau will attend, will be held tomorrow morning. The experts’ committee, which has been considering special vessels, has concluded its report, which will be presented to the first committee when the full conference reassembles.

REDUCTION SOUGHT PETITION FORWARDED POWERS STILL BUILDING United F. A.—By Telegraph—Copyright NEW YORK, Sunday. An unusual intensive telegraphic campaign has resulted in the dispatch of a cablegram signed by 1,200 prominent men and women throughout the United States appealing to the American delegates to the Naval Conference in London to accomplish a reduction of armaments, not merely their limitation. The message stated that the Briand-Kellogg Pact was signed by all the participants in the conference. Therefore that agreement should guide the parties to the conference and the principle of a joint conference to settle disputes should be adopted. BUILDING CONTINUES According to a London message the "Daily Telegraph’s” naval correspondent states that excepting the British Empire all the Powers represented at the Naval Conference are not only demanding total tonnage exceeding their present strengths, but are continuing the building of warships with undiminished energy. Britain’s policy, says the writer, offers a marked and disturbing contrast with the drastic measures already taken or being taken to cut down the British Navy. It is not generally realised that Britain’s original programme provided for the construction between 1924 and 1929 of 23 eight-inch gun cruisers, eight of which have been cancelled. , COMPARATIVE FIGURES Within the same period no other Power has dropped a single cruiser, says the correspondent. On the contrary, the following new ships have either been laid down or authorised:United States, 15; Japan, four; France, seven; Italy, eight. So that 34 foreign cruisers have been legislated for compared with Britain’s 15. Detailing the other Powers’ actual building work the writer says not a single contract time-table has been altered for the great majority of the foreign ships being built, or authorised and begun since Britain begun her curtailment in 1927. Consequently if Britain’s successive cancellations were made in the hope of producing similar reductions abroad they have had precisely the opposite effect. FRENCH PROPHECY tn Paris M. Jules Sauerwein, special correspondent .of "Le Matin” at the Naval Conference, expresses the opinion that one week hence an accord will have been- reached between the American and British delegates. Therefore it is quite possible, he says, that a tripartite agreement will be reached on March 10. If France has not made her reappearance at the conference at that date she will be placed in an unfavourable position and be under concentrated pressure to make her give way on her naval figures in relation to the great Powers, who already are virtually in accord. M -_ Sauerwein warns the French public against the growing tendency to regard the conference as of little consequence to -France, who may be '! a V lor failure or torpedoing of the conference or be pressed to accept an agreement which she will not have time to study profoundly.