15 MARCH 1930, Page 1

The Naval Conference , The Naval Conference, when we write

on Thursday, is nearer a deadlock that it has ever been. The most important events of the week have been the announce- ment by Great Britain that she will not agree to a Locarno " Pact for the Mediterranean, and the an- nouncement by the United States to the same effect with the addition that she will not agree even to a consultative arrangement resembling the Pacific Pact. The last state-. ment may cause some surprise, as it was the United States who originally suggested _a. consultative-. pact.-- .It is evident now. that she was. only throwing out a -suggestion to give the discussion a new turn without in any way corn-- ratting herself to it. The situation is that France holds to her demand for a bloated tonnage. She stands alone in doing this. She acts in isolation. She .opposes herself to the opinion of all other POwers who are seeking peace not by means of naval and military guarantees,. but by insisting that the Kellogg Pact means exactly what it says. In other words, the only real security is the public hatred of war.

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