NAVAL WARFARE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 138, 9 July 1909, Page 2

NAVAL WARFARE.

INTERNATIONAL RULES. , I By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyrigiit j jjondon, dtuy i. i The Standard states that -Ur Asquit.i i has posLpmivd indefinitely his ratiiica- ( tion of the declaration of London deal- i ing with international rules for naval : warfare; hence the declaration remains a dead letter. The ratification convention for establishment of an international prize court has also been postponed. The naval conference, whioh sat at tho Foreign (Mice, London, concluded its sittings last March, its deelaiauon including 17 articles containing the generally Tecognised rules of naval warfare. The agreement had to be ratified by the Powers, and the British Government agreed to do nothing until Parliament had an opportunity of discussing the matter. Had tile agreement been ratified the world would In future have had one consolidated and codified system of maritime law to which to tippeal in case of dispute, and this international code would have been administered as necessary by the Court of Appeal at The Hague. Great difficulty was encountered m coming to agreements on many points, particularly such as affected the interests of individual Powers in a special degree, and it was stated that some of these differences seemed insurmountable. Nevertheless 1 the conference was «ot dissolved, but ! held daily sittings lasting for many ■ hours for several weeks with very satis--1 factory results.