The Mediterranean Conference at Geneva on the submarine peril will attract considerable attention if only because its success would be in remarkable contrast to other efforts at securing international cooperation for the limitation of war's effects on neutrals, On that point alone people in China will feel more than academic Ynterest just now. The customary effort at guessing the British propo: seems to be discounted more firmly than, usual, Semi-official cold-water seems to be thrown with the object of hinting that Great Britain has something out of the ordinary up her sleeve. However that may be, it is certain that her officials are by no means unaware of the difficulties which confront anyone in proposing a common plan for acceptance by a group of nations. Already inspired comments from certain capitals throw out gloomy suggestions that the cooperation required will split on this or that rock. In the circumstances the only course is to wait and see. It is evident that Great Britain and France are well seized of each other's ideas and are in considerable agreement on the general problem involved. The Conference will have a better chance of success if it can exclude arguments derived from the conflicting ideologies in Spain. This submarine peril is not ideological; it requires drastic and straightforward treatment,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.