1 MARCH 1930, Page 2

Apart from the justifiable unwillingness of the British Government to

enter into any Pact on the Locarno model, such a proposal was ruled out by the Prime Minister before the Conference began. We are not sufficiently informed to say what the attitude of Washington would be towards some arrangement for consultation, but it is certain that any attempt to incorporate what might reasonably be called a political Pact in a Naval Agree- ment would make the Senate so suspicious and hostile that the Naval Agreement itself would have little chance of going through. If a pledge of consultation became necessary to satisfy France, the best solution perhaps would be to keep it entirely separate from a Naval Agreement.