The New Straits Convention The signature at Montreux last Monday
evening of a Straits Convention to replace the Lausanne Agreement of 1923 must be hailed, in these days of small results, as a notable event. It was the first international con- ference of a political character for the :paSt three or four years which can be called a real success ; and the con- vention is, as the Japanese Delegate specifiCally recalled, the first international agreement signed by Japan since she left the League. The result has entirely justified the method ' which Turkey adopted of seeking treaty revision by pacific means., - It shows that revision by negotiationwill' work; and `should encourage those who wish to make Article 19 of the Covenant of the League a reality, though Turkey refrained from invoking that , . Article in the present instance owing to the position of Japan as a non-member State. Turkish troops reoccupied the Straits area on the morning after the signature. This act was technically irregular; Since none of the parties had ratified and Italy, ',having refused to appear at Montreux, had not even signed. But nobody is likely to cavil at this anticipation of the results of the agreement. - . -
