(French Draft.)

tance to this enquiry, particularly in their respective territories.

(c.) The members of the committee of enquiry shall be selected by the Permanent Commission from a list of experts duly qualified in the different branches, subject to the limitations provided for in the present convention. The Permanent Commission shall also appoint the chairman of the committee of enquiry. The list of experts shall be drawn up in pursuance of the proposals of the Governments signatories of the present convention.

The State involved and the party making the application may only be represented in the committee of enquiry in a purely advisory capacity.

The experts appointed by the Permanent Commission may in no case be subject to the authority of any of the parties to the dispute.

(d.) The Permanent Commission shall fix the points on which the enquiry shall bear.

If it is decided that the enquiry may be conducted simply by a study of documents, the committee of enquiry shall meet immediately. If, in the course of its proceedings, it needs to consult documents which are not yet at its disposal, its chairman shall address a request for such documents to the SecretaryGeneral of the League, to whom the States concerned shall forward them as soon as possible.

If, in the opinion of the Permanent Commission, the nature of the infringement necessitates an enquiry on the spot, the chairman of the committee of enquiry

(French Draft.)

shall himself fix the date on which it shall begin such investigation. The State concerned shall be immediately notified by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations.

(e.) The chairman of the committee of enquiry shall make a report to the Permanent Commission, in which he shall confine himself to recording the actual facts; the Permanent Commission alone shall pronounce on these facts. If differences of opinion have arisen among the experts, mention must be made of them in the report.

Article ZC.

(French Draft.)

In pursuance of the Permanent Commission's report referred to in Article ZA above or the enquiry provided for in Article ZB above, if any, the Council of the League of Nations, acting in virtue of Article 8, paragraph 4, of the Covenant of the League, may authorise a High Contracting Party to exceed, within specific limits and for a specific time, the limitations laid down in the present convention.

In cases of urgency, the matter may be laid before the Council direct, which may take a decision, if it thinks necessary, without previous enquiry report.

Observations and

Reservations.

The British delegation

Article ZD.

(French Draft.)

If, during the term of the

reserves its opinion until present convention, civil aviation the second reading as to in one or more of the contracting the desirability of this countries, or military or civil

proposal.

aviation in one or more of the non-signatory States, experiences such a development as to constitute a possible danger to the

(French Draft.)

security of some of the High Contracting Parties, the latter shall report this change of circumstances to the Permanent Disarmament Commission under the conditions laid down in Article ZA above.

Section V.-Ratification-Entry into Force-Denunciation.

Article EA.

The present convention shall not affect the terms of previous treaties, under which certain of the High Contracting Parties have agreed to limit their military, naval or air armaments, and have thus fixed in relation to one another their respective obligations and rights in this connection, the present convention being within these limits inapplicable between the said Powers.

Article EB.

The present convention shall be ratified by the High Contracting Parties in accordance with their respective constitutional methods. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited at Geneva.

It shall come into force for each party whose instrument of ratification has been deposited as soon as the instruments of ratification have been deposited by [list of States to be drawn up by the conference].

Article EC.

The High Contracting Parties agree to accept reservations which may be made by Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Poland, and Roumania at the moment of their signature of the present convention, and which shall suspend, in respect of these States, the application of Articles of the present convention until the accession of Russia to the present convention under the same conditions as the above-named Powers.

Article ED.

Each of the High Contracting Parties undertakes that, as soon as the convention has come into force for it, it will begin the necessary measures for carrying the provisions of the convention into effect.

Observations__and

Reservations.

Reservation by the British delegation, which considers that different periods ought to be preIn case none of the High Contracting Parties shall have scribed for air and land given notice to terminate two years before the expiration armaments on the one of the said periods, the provisions of the convention shall ments on the other hand. continue in force until the expiration of two years from the Reservation by the date on which such notice shall be given by one of the

hand, and naval arma

Article EF.

The present convention shall remain in force for years as from the exchange of ratifications.

French and Italian dele

gations regarding this parties.

question, requiring equal If the party by which such notice is given is among treatment for all three those to be mentioned in the last paragraph of Article EB categories of armaments. above, all the High Contracting Parties shall, within one year of the date of the notice, meet in conference to consider the continuance of the provisions to be terminated. In the event of any such conference failing to come to an agreement, accepted by all the parties other than the party which has given the notice, as to the continuance of the provisions to be terminated, or as to the substitution of others, they will terminate on the expiration of the two years provided for in the notice.

If the High Contracting Parties, other than the party which has given notice to terminate, agree upon the terms of other stipulations in substitution for those to be terminated, the latter shall continue in force for all parties other than that which gave the notice until the coming into force of the new stipulations.

If the party by which notice to terminate is given is not among those to be mentioned in the last paragraph of Article EB above, the convention will remain in force for all High Contracting Parties other than that by which the notice was given.

Notices under this article shall be given to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations and shall be deemed to have been given on the day on which the notice was received by him.

MON

DIEU

DROIT

GENEVA CONFERENCE FOR THE
LIMITATION OF NAVAL ARMAMENTS

JUNE-AUGUST, 1927

Speeches in Plenary Session by the Right Hon. W. C. BRIDGEMAN, M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty

Presented by the First Lord of the Admiralty
to Parliament by Command of His Majesty,
October, 1927

LONDON:

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Cmd. 2964.