NAVAL LAWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 6, 1 July 1911, Page 5

NAVAL LAWS.

BRITAIN AND THE DECLARATION OF LONDON. By Cable—Press Association-Copyright, i London, June 20. In the House of Common; Mr. McKinnon Wood, in moving the second reading of the Naval Pri/.c- Bill, said that if Britain refused to r;;-ify it she would run the risk of bavin; food declared absolute contraband. TA'ey would have to build more Dreadnoughts, and ' there would be an end to the hope of . the limitation of armaments. IT' attached great importance to the appeal by the Dominion Prime Ministers of iV' Declaration of London in its broad a.s pects. He added, sarcastically, that the opponents of the proposal said much less about the opinions of the Dominion representatives since their approval had been gained. Amid cheers and counter cheers he deprecated the use of the Dominions as pawns in the party game. He said that it was impossible to defer ratification until a Royal Commission confirmed the Declaration. Mr. Wood added that Admirals Wilson and Fisher. Admiral Slade, and four previous Directors oi Naval Intelligence, favored the Declaration. Their opinions carried move weight than that of the dissenting admirals.

Sir R. B. Finlay, K.C., derided the notion that the Declaration of London would end the competition in armaments. The proposed constitution of the Prize Court was outrageous. The Government had completely surrendered British principles on questions of contraband and the destruction of neutrals, though Britain had the support of America and Japan. Article 34 was simply an adoption of the German draft. The ratification of the Declaration would be a national calamity. The debate was adjourned.

The Government has granted an extra day to the Xaval Prize Bill debate, and hopes to terminate on Monday.

Mr. MeKenna. First Lord of the Admiralty, said the Declaration would not bind Britain in the slightest degree in regard to allowing belligerent rights to merchantmen converted on the high seas. The Court had no jurisdiction between belligerents, and the Declaration affected neutral countries alone. He added: "Tf we should be at war with a Power which converts merehantment into warships at sea, we are as free to deal with those merchantmen as before signing the Declaration."