21 APRIL 1933, Page 2

The Disarmament Conference The Disarmament Conference resumes its labours on

Tuesday. The business before it is the British plan presented to the Conference by the Prime Minister in March. Everyone has so far spoken well of the plan, but everyone has reservations or criticisms to make. In that • great danger lies. The adjournment of the Conference just after the scheme had been produced was a mistake in itself, for the momentum the Prime Minister's visit had generated has now largely died down. The original Rome conversations appear to have borne very little on Disarmament, and, in. addition, the temper of Germany grows less rather than more accommodating as time passes, though Herr Hitler has admitted the principle of equality by stages. Everything depends on whether the British Government is prepared to fight in earnest for its plan. If it is, a harvest worth securing may still be reaped, but drive and resolution will be needed, and no complete assurance can be felt that the Foreign Secretary, if he is the British representative at the Conference next week, is capable of supplying them.