Office of the Historian

500.A15a3/902: Telegram

The Minister in Switzerland (Wilson) to the Secretary of State

[Paraphrase]
Berne, May 16, 1930—3 p.m.
[Received May 16—1:35 p.m.]

42. From Italian sources in the League Council, I learn that the British Prime Minister recently wrote to Grandi37 asking information concerning the reasons for the Italian naval construction program announced by that Government after London Conference37a and expressing his apprehension regarding its magnitude.

In explanation, Grandi replied that the countries participating in the London Conference knew what Italy’s intentions were; namely, to build on same scale as France; and that the program announced for 1930 and 1931 by Italy merely equaled the French program for the same period. Grandi added that the Royal Government was ready to retard building, reduce building, or stop building on its program while the two Governments were engaged in an effort to solve the difficulties arising from their naval programs to the same extent that the French Government would retard, reduce, or stop its program during that period. According to what I was told, Mac-Donald expressed his satisfaction with the Italian proposal, but whether the proposal has yet reached French sources is not known.

I have commented on the French-Italian conversations at Geneva in my despatch No. 1447, of today’s date.38

Wilson
  1. Dino Grandi, Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs.↩
  2. For correspondence relating to the London Naval Conference of 1930, see pp. 1 ff.↩
  3. Not printed.↩