The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-12-18

sI SAAAAAeA anu ts@ fNAtA tttAA bA CAsaAAN sA-N dement,.
 Navni subcommittee action to-
 ward five-poser pact on naval
 limitation awaits an answer from
 Premier Briand on both the t0-
 ship project submitted by French
 delegates now here, and upon the
 joint cOunter-propOsnl cOncurred
 in by Great Britain, United States
 and Italy that France accept
 capital ship strength of t75,O0O
 tons as compared to her present
 164,0OO tons in dreadnaughts.
 A three hour session of the sub committee today was almost entirely taken up by Albert Sarraut, head of the French delegation, in presenting views of French naval experts now here as to the naval needs of France. Secretary Hughes made a brief reply tending to stimulate good feeling among the committee members. The official communique. however, would admit nothing beyond the physical facts that the committee met, talked adjourned and would meet again.
 shhntmnE Problem
 Settlement of the Shantung prob lem apparently depends on satisfac- tory arrangement of few details in- yolVed in Japanese return of the TsingTao -TsinanFn railroad in the Kiao Chow leasehold Further in- structions on the subject were re- ceived today by the Japanese dele- gates and although their exact na- ture was not disclosed, there was evil dent tonight among both Japanese and France feeling that final agree ment was only question of hours. As to the French proposals for a new fleet of 10 35.000-ton capital ships, which stunned conference circles when they first became known yes terday, 1t was learned that they were framed here by direction of Admiral Debon, chief French naval expert. un- der his authority for the delegation to present the views of the French naval general staff. Premier Briand and former Premier Vlviani both had left Washington before the admirars proposals were framed. The Paris government has now been informed by cable of the situation and of the counter proposition.
 It was evident tonight that the 175,00O-ton capital ship limitation for France was proposed by the Amer fcan delegation originally. although the form in which 1t was presented was not disclosed. Italy's spokesman Ia replied that Italy accepted the Amer ican point of view as to tonnage whole-heartedly and would be satis- fled with 175.000 tons if France ac- cepted that figure.
 Italian Position
 The position of the Italian delega- | ton as 1t Is understood to have been l developed during the committee ses~ sions IS that the Italian government had two principles to maintain in inc naval ratio discussion;, one, that the Italian navy should be on an equality l with that of any other power in the Mediterranean; and two. that the {, Italian ratio should be as low as pos- sible for Italy's purely defensive pur- | poses Italy's agreement to the Amer ican i75,o0o-ton ratio, conditioned only on acceptance of that ratio by France followed.
 Knowledge that the French 1o-shlp building plan, which up to tonight, had seemed a stumbling block in the way of the conference, was merely the suggestion of the French naval staff here as to what 1t deemed de- sirable for France, put a wholly new face on the present deliberations of the naval committee. The action fof the French experts in outlining their | authorized by the French delegation as means to bring about a full dis cussior of the general problem of na- val relatiyities, but 1t was also sup ported by conference precedent.
 Written Presentation
 The only written presentation of Japan's first claim to a naval ratio of 70 per cent as compared to the American fleet. so far as known, was made by Japanese experts In the original committee e experts, aban- doned later for the naval committee of Is on which conference delegates themselves sit Except for that change the French sug gestion prob ably would have been presented to the expert committee. It appears to have been drawn up for that purpose.
 Another similarity is that the Jap
 Continued on Page Two)