Jan, 17
When the King opens the Naval Conference on Tuesday he wilh [address the largest audience in history. Transmitters of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Beam Wireless Service, the Trans-Atlantic Telephone and of the Continental Telephone Service will all be used to carry the Royal jspecch to millions of homes.
From the London Station of the B.B.C, the speech will reach France, Italy and Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Austria and Czecho-Slovakia, relayed by telephone, technique st London. will be able to do so without the: full facts of his connection becoming known.
The insidious danger of the Shearer practices, it was pointed out, was their secrecy. Shearer posed as a disinterested American patriot, working for a larger Navy out of conscientious conviction, until the attention of the Administration was drawn to his trio status by his action in filing suit against those who had. employed him at! Geneva and'in Washington.
In connection with the revelations that some-of the leading shipb ers did not know Shearer was their payrolls, it was pointed out} in today's announcement that such shipbuilders will be enabled to rid themselves of the subordinates. who have admitted employing Shearer.
Heads of the industry were virtually united in declaring that. any employee who employed Shearer for propaganda work had committed a grave error of judgment, Capital. Ships Jan. 11, An impression prevails here that fed inv little more than an exchange of views.
Comments in the vernacular newspapers make" this: plain and! indications are not. lacking that this reflects the official view too, fare endeavouring disappointment, intimating a belief that Mr. Wakatsuki, "the leader of the Japanese Delegation and: ex-Pre-inlet of Japan, has at'least succeeded in impressing upon the Britisk-Premier, Mr. Ramsay MacDonaldy that Japan's claim to a 70-per cent, ratio of naval tonnage as compared with that of Britain and America not unjustified.
Meanwhile certain Nationalistic idements are inking strenuous endeavours to rouse the nation to a necessity of making Japan' demands imperative for a 70. per cent, ratio and urging that resolution to that effect should be railroaded" through the Diet as soon as it convenes on January 21 they achieve thely ends the Government will be greatly embarrassed as the Opposition Parties are likely to make political capital Governments, addressing. a special public meeting of the Navy League to-day Yeferred to th subject of the Naval Conference, He said the cruiser problem was itieule in 1927 and it was the most serious difficulty now. British building policy had been one of slow replacement and within but a few. years 25 of the existing cruisers would be obsolete, This made the suspension of the building of the two cruisers which' were already begun; without any equivalent sacrifice by other countries, very disquieting.
He referred to the statement of Mr. Alexander, the present First Lord of Admiralty, that Britaist was) willing to reduce her eral strength to 60 ships. He said Mr, Alexander's reason for this not convincing. It was that the Kellogg Pact had made all. the dif ference between the 70. cruisers: wanted in 1927 and the 60 wanted now.
"If the Kellogg Pact was the only reason, however," continued Viscount Bridgemag, "why should it have such curiously different effects upon different. countries. Appay~ cently it caused other countries to increase their cruisers and Great! Britain was the only one which was. let, to reduce."
"He cannot go on giving som thing for nothing," Viscount Bridgeman added.
'He believed, he said, that agree-mont could' be reached in the spirit of give and take, but other people must give as well as the British, of tonnage within the cruiser catty gories and of agreeing upon what should be the equilibrium as between nation and nation in the number categories and of agreeing, upon what should be the equilibrium between nation and nation in. the number of cruisers. If without] sacrificing security," the Premier remarked, "The agreement can be reached on these lines, stopping competition, then the power and force of political agreement to prevent war is automatically strengthened and the prospect of more complete disarmament when the to review agreements is
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.