1 MARCH 1919, Page 2

It has been suggested that the proposal was made for

no better reason than that the Allies cannot agree how to divide the property. In the House of Lords on Wednesday Lord Lytton certainly opposed the desire of France to have several of the ships. But if France wants them, why should she not have them ? They are not for the most part " sea-keeping " ships such ae we want in the Royal Navy. If the ships are not, after all, wanted for naval purposes, they could surely be distributed in agreed proportions as the material of industry. There could be no more difficulty about making such a distribution than there is in settling our relative financial claims. The idea of sheer waste is intolerable, and for our part we do not believe that the British Admiralty is entertaining it-