News of the Week
THE decision of the Government to postpone the laying down of two of the three cruisers included in the programme for this year is an earnest, and a most striking one, that they regard the work of the Geneva Naval Conference *as by no* means abandoned. We congratulate and thank them. Nothing is more valuable just now than a plain sign flashed through a night of misunderstanding that Great Britain wants peace and means to have it. The programme of one large cruiser and two smaller cruisers was introduced by the Labour Government. The large cruiser is one of the two that are dropped. We have written in our first leading article on the whole subject of disarmament and we need only acknowledge here that the Government have given just such a proof as we desired to the United States that we do not intend to invite her to a competition in cruisers.
