Naval Agreement Signed

The Chamber of Deputies ratified the Washington Naval Treaty by 460 to 106 votes.

The Act of Ratification:

" The Government of the Republic

is authorized to ratify as valid until

Dec. 31, 1936, the treaty signed at

Washington, Feb. 6,1922, and known as the treaty between the United States of America, the British Empire, France, Italy and Japan limiting naval armaments." On ratification by the Senate, which now has the matter in hand, the Naval Agreement will have been signed by all the signatory Powers-- U. S. A., Britain, Japan, Italy, France. Moreover, ratification by France makes the Treaty operative forthwith; that is, all scrapping must be carried out during the next six months. According to the U. S. Navy Department the ships "must be rendered utterly unserviceable for defensive purposes" within that per iod. An extra year is allowed for actual dismemberment. The Deputies assembled in the Chamber to vote on the ratification anxiously insisted that the Treaty should in no way limit the construction of submarines and auxiliary craft. The Government made it quite clear on several occasions that the scope of the Treaty affected only the construction of capital ships.

M. Aristide Briand, ex-Premier, who negotiated the Treaty, took the view that the agreement gives France a proportion of one to three, whereas on account of her finances, she would otherwise soon have found herself in the proportion of one to six. " You must not say," he told the Chamber, "that this Treaty puts us in a bad situation and compromises the interests of the country."

The Chamber of Deputies passed the Four Power Pacific Treaty which provides for moral guarantees for maintaining the status quo on the Pacific between the U. S. A., Great Britain, France, Japan. The debate was perfunctory. Regret was expressed that the terms of the treaty did not apply to French Indo-China. Eulogies of President Harding and the U. S. policy were voiced.