FRANCE'S AIMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 246, 17 October 1929, Page 7

FRANCE'S AIMS.

ARMAMENT QUESTION. Navy Agreement Must Cover Land And Air Forces. SCHEME FOR FORTIFICATIONS. ("Times" Cables.) LONDON, October 16. The Paris correspondent of the "Times" says the French Government's decision to accept Britain's invitation to the five-Powers Naval Conference is welcomed. However, it is again emphasised that it must clearly be understood that France's sole aim is to further the work of the Preparatory Disarmament Commission of the League of Nations. The French view is that the problem of disarmament must be considered as a whole, and for that reason any naval agreement reached in January could not become operative independently of an agreement as to land and air forces.

There is remarkable unanimity on this point. The semi-official journal "Le Temps" lays stress upon it in three separate passages in the same article. The Minister of War, M. Painleve, delivered an address to university students in Paris. He said that France disarmed would not be good as an example, as she would be a great temptation. The Minister described a chain of blockhouses, armed with rapid-firing guns, to be built before November, 1930, across the north of Alsace and Lorraine. He also gave details of other defence works contemplated within the next ten years. In the event of a surprise attack, said M. Painleve, France could raise a reserve army of 100,000 veterans within 24 hours, 250.000 young men within four days, and a total of 7,400,000 within a week, in addition to the regular army.