15 NOVEMBER 1930, Page 2

* * • * The Death-Knell of Disarmament ?

The news from Geneva is about as bad as it can be. Without any warning to the British public, who, after all, are chiefly concerned, and whose hopes had un- doubtedly been raised by more than one declaration by Mr. Henderson, Lord Cecil gave out that Great Britain did not wish to reopen the crucial question of trained reserves in conscriptionist countries. When an amend- ment to Article I was put forward by Count Bernstorff, proposing to limit the annual contingent, the French delegate promptly objected, and, on a vote being taken, the amendment was defeated by 12 to 6. Great Britain ranged herself with Canada and the United States among the fourteen delegations which abstained.