Conference Tottering

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 923, 17 March 1930, Page 9

Conference Tottering

WEEK-END NAVAL TALKS France Sheds No Tears BRITAIN CONFIDENT OF SUCCESS WHILE tlie general opinion in France is that the London » Naval Conference is dead and can be recalled to life only by a miracle, high hopes are entertained in London that the feverish conversations now transpiring between the British and French delegates will placate France in her demand for security. AI. Tardieu, French Premier, is confident of an agreement if no unwise haste is exercised.

United PA.—By Telegraph — Copyright.\ Reed. Noon. RUGBY, Sunday. Hopes are entertained that the difficulties with which the London Naval Conference has been faced since the examination of the French tonnage figures began, may be eased as the result of week-end exchanges. French objections to the Italian in- \ sistenee on parity still remain the immediate obstacle to progress, but efforts are continuing with the purpose of finding a middle course between France’s refusal to reduce the tonnage figures in the absence of a Mediterranean treaty and Italy’s refusal to produce concrete figures of her requirements beyond a general declaration of her demand for parity with the strongest European Continental Power. Conversations to this end have been proceeding almost continuously. The Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, saw first M. Briand and later Signor Grandi. The meeting of M. Briand and Signor Grandi yesterday was a long one, but apart from a brief Italian statement recording the meeting and M. Briand’s comment that the political stage of the discussion was not yet over, no public indication was given of what took place. Chief interest now centres in tomorrow’s conference between the French and British Prime Ministers at Chequers. M. Loudon, chairman of the League of Nations Preparatory Disarmament Commission, has arrived in London to discuss with the special representative of the league, M. Colban, the date of the next sitting of the commission. TARDIEU ARRIVES The French Prime Minister, M. Tardieu, arrived in London last evening, and was welcomed at the station by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. A. V. Alexander, and representatives of the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, and leading members of the French delegation to the conference. This morning M. Tardieu went to Chequers, where he was the guest of the British Prime Minister at luncheon. Accompanying him were the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Briand, and Marine, M. Dumesnil. Mr. Arthur Henderson and Mr. Craigie, chief British expert, were also present. A communique issued after the meeting was in the following terms: “In the course of conversations lasting from 11 a.m. to 1.30 p.ia., and from 3 p.m. to 4.30, the delegations examined the general situation with particular reference to the present state of the discussions on questions of special concern to both parties. “They considered fully the means best adapted to ensure the success of negotiations.” IS CONFERENCE DEAD? FRANCE SHEDS NO TEARS SAVED ONLY BY MIRACLE Reed. 10.10 a.m. LONDON, Sunday. The “Sunday Times” Paris correspondent says France was never greatly enamoured by a disarmament conference, but she preferred a preparatory commission at Geneva. For that reason she is not keenly disappointed

at the present crisis at the Naval Conference. Unless M. Tardieu's visit to London or Signor Grandi’s telephone talks to Rome produce a miracle, French opinion is that the conference is practically dead, which would occasion little surprise and few tears there. CONFIDENT OF SUCCESS Reed. 1 p.m. LONDON. Sunday. M. Tardieu, when he returned to London from Chequers, said they had examined the whole situation together, particularly the points interesting Britain and France. “On the one hand we specified questions about which an agreement is either certain or easy, on the other hand we examined those concerning which agreement hitherto appeared difficult to reach,” he said. “We are convinced we shall reach a satisfactory result if we exclude unwise haste.”

THREE-POWER AGREEMENT

COMPROMISE ON TONNAGE FRANCE STILL STANDS OUT LONDON, Saturday. j There seems to be a good prospect I of a three-Powers agreement being I concluded at the Naval Conference. 1 America and Japan have reached a ! compromise which has been approved by both delegations and their naval advisers. It is now being submitted to the Japanese Government, whose assent is expected on Tuesday. The terms of the compromise are that America will have ISO,OOO tons of vessels carrying S-inch guns and. Japan IQS,OOO tons. America will bring her total to 18 cruisers by adding one in 1934, 1935 and 1936 respectively. Britain will have 15, and Japan by 1936 will have eight of the Nachi type plus four 7,100-ton S-inch gun cruisers of the Kato type. This whittling down of Japan's large cruisers has been achieved by concessions in the ratios of smaller ships. The relative figures are: America. Japan. Tons. Tons. Light cruisers .. 143,000 104,000 Destroyers .. 150,000 105,000 Submarines .. 52,000 52,000 This makes it easier for Britain to enter a three-Powers agreement, but it is still a problem how she will stand if France extensively builds 10,000-ton cruisers. As a solution of this, perhaps also as a temporary solution of the Franco-Italian impasse, it is suggested that France and Italy until 1936 should submit their minimum building needs for embodiment in a treaty, leaving the vexed issue of their p.v'ity to be worked out at a later conference. Another suggestion is that France and Italy should agree to a. rigidly fixed tonnage strength in the Mediterranean, but that offers little hope, because the Mediterranean is only three days’ steaming from other French ports. The British and American view is to let France and Italy discuss any proposal, however small, if only to bring them nearer. Dispatches from Paris this morning all affirm that M. Tardieu, the French Premier, lias nothing new to offer. It seems to be a case with France of security or nothing.