Jan, 21
The Naval Gonference begins today; and judging by the ecstatic utterances of delegate. from both sides of the Atlantic and the optimism of most English and American papers, success seems assured, and in a a few weeks tens of thousands of dockyard workmen will be secking other employment. Mr. Ramsay MacDonald's visit to Washington helped to clear the() round, and itis understood that the British and American delegates enter the Conference already virtually agreed on what have heretofore been the most serious differences. Nor does it seem to be expected that Japan's demand for a seventy per cent. ratio, which after all is only to preserve the proportion she already enjoys, will cause insuperable difficulty. If agreement were limited to the Pacific and the Western Atlantic it should be easy. But will France and Italy fall into line?
The indications are that both these Powers have objections to make, on which they are likely to stand firm. The maritime claims of France are second in world importance to those of Great Britain. She has an immensely long coast line on two oceans and her colonial empire is the second largest in the world. Furthermore, perhaps owing to the proofs supplied by the late war of the unapproachable importance of sea power, public opinion in France has become keenly alive to naval matters and any criticism evoke ed by the construction programmes of the Ministry of Marine has been far more that they were too small than too big. At the present time France is at work on a large scheme of naval rebuilding destined to give her a new and powerful fleet in trvelve years' time, and she does not seem likely to accept any reduction of it. In particular, is she concentrating upon large: submarines and destroyers 80 powerful that they are. virtually light cruisers. Neither, in number nor in strength is she" ex pected to consent to any reduc tion of these two particular
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.