2 JULY 1927, Page 6

Although the British, American and Japanese delegates on the Naval

Limitation Conference at Geneva have been at cross-purposes, tempers are good and therefore the prospect of agreement is fair. The British delegation started off with a proposal to limit the size of capital ships. The American delegation regards the question of capital ships as having been settled at the Washington Conference and applies its whole atten- tion to getting a 5-5-3 ratio for all the other naval categories. At present neither side has given way. The only fresh movement is that Japan is inclined to agree with Great Britain, though she says that the proposal took her by surprise and that she wants time to consider it in detail.