Evening star., 1922-01-08
Conference Swings Into Ninth
Week With Knotty Prob
lens to Be Tackled.
WARFARE RULES REPORT
YET TO BE PRESENTED
Every Effort Will Be Made to Push
Through Work on the
Far East.
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.

OOt LlNCOLN.
As the Washington conference swings
into its ninth week it is question only
OF days before 1t will have completed
its work on Limitation Of armaments.
There remains, however, the far east.
with number OF knotty questions still
to be tackled.
The committee on the limitation OF
armaments yesterday agreed to ban the
use Of poison gas in warfare. and thel.
took up report of a subcommittee on
aircraft. and this report will be dis
cussed when the committee resumes IT'S
sittings tomorrow morning. One other
subcommittee is to be heard from, the
committee on rules of warfare. II is
understood that this subcommittee will
recommend that no attempt be made
to draft complete Set OF rules Of war
fare at this conference. but that such
a draft be postponed until future
conference. when other nations may
also take part.
Naval Limitation Remains.
There is still TO be laid before t:l..
committee on limitation Of armaments
the draft of the naval Limitation treaty.
The naval and legal experts Of the dele
cations have been working for days on
this treaty. and 1t was said yesterday
afternoon that the treaty draft would
be ready for the committee perhaps on
Monday, certainly within day or two
AS soon as the committee has coh-
cluded its consideration Of the aircraft
report and that on rules OF warfare and
the treaty draft. an open session VIII
be held to formally ratify the work Of
the committee.
The way will then be open for the
committee on the far east. and every
effort win be made to push through us
| work as rapidly as possible. During
the last eight weeks much OF the
| work on the far eastern problems has
already been accomplished. and the
delegates, through informal conver-
! sations. have placed themselves in
position to act promptly upon the
questions still to be handled.
shantung Problem Vital.
| OF prime Importance to the success
OF the conference in regard to the Tar
f. east it.Iat is. China) is a settlement
of the Shantung problem. This Is
matter which so far has been dealt
with in special meetings of the Chinese
! and Japanese delegates. with American
and British observers attending.
Late yesterday afternoon the Chinese
delegates called upon Secretary
Hughes at the State Department and
upon Mr. Balfour, head of the British
| delegation, at his apartments. and re-
ported to them the progress OF the
discussions between themselves anc
! the Japanese in regard to Shantuns'
! particularly the Shantung railroad,
! which is the crux of the question. -
! Mr.. SEE, the Chinese minister to the
! United States and member of the dele
| CATION, after these conversations with
| MIR. Hughes ard Mr.. Balfonr described
the informal conference as 'reassur-
ing" and satisfactory
! I'VE merely reported to Mr.. Hughes
and Mr.. Balfour what has been done
at the conference on Shantung with the
Japanese delegation he said. I'VE
explained the position taken by the
Chinese delegation"
Farther Away, Says SEE.
He was unable, he said. to say when
another meeting Of the Chinese and
Japanese would be held to discuss
Shantung.
Our contention is" said Mr.. Sxe.
| that the Japanese in their offer made
Friday evening were farther from
! meeting our demands than they were
when they made their offer of De-
| cember 49,"
He explained that the Japanese now
propose to have the offices Of trnffic
manager and chief accountant of the
Shantung railroad filled by, Japanese.
| In their offer of December 19 the
Japanese proposed only to have an
associate traffic manager and an
associate accountant, he said.
So the question of the shantung
railroad resovles itself again into
question of control. The Chinese.
said Mr.. SEE, ''do not wish to have
the railroad in name only" They wish
the control of it.
Next Move by Outsider.
| The next move in the Shantung
controversy will likely be made by
Mr. Hughes and Mr.. Balfour. Unless
they should be asked by both jap
anese and Chinese delegations to act
| as mediators. they could not under.
take such work. And Mr.. Hughes ana
| Mr.. Balfour are anxious to avoid. in
any way. trespassing upon the pro-
| prieties. They made 1t clear ,,ester-
1 day that the conference with the
Chinese was entirely informal. But
IT. was considered probable last
night that they would ind oppor-
tunity to talk informally with the
| Jananese. 1t would be. strange II
! they did not. in view of the fact that
/ they are constantly meeting the
! Japanese delegates.
| Mr.. SEE last night. without saying
anything about mediation, expressed
4 the opinion that the good ofnoss~ e
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