10 DECEMBER 1927, Page 1

We cannot survey again DOW the details of the Three

Power Conference, but we think that the British delegates gave innumerable signs (for instance, in their proposals for reducing the size of ships, reducing the power of gnus and enormously reducing the expenditure on the Navy by extending the life of ships) that they meant busi- ness. The conception of "mathematical parity" has for the moment triumphed. The Manchester Guardian quotes words from the last issue of the Atherican Army and Nary Journal, which show that the Big Navy party was actually annoyed by the British decision to hold up cruiser con- struction. The journal says that the British authorities are "deliberately propagandising this country . for the purpose of preventing a real cruiser programme being recommended by the President to Congress." It goes on to say that "the Administration, and the American people as well, are awake to the fact that the spirit of the Wash- ington Treaty has been violated by the British."