ARMY ESTIMATES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 72, 26 March 1930, Page 7

ARMY ESTIMATES.

COMMONS' OEBATE. Britain's Leading Part in World ! Disarmament. OTHER POWERS MUST HELP. (British Official Wireless.), ■> RUGBY, March 25. In the House of Commons' debate on : the Army Estimates, . Mr. Tom Shaw, Secretary for War, speaking to the amendment moved by Mr. Cove (Labour), that the House declare - all warlike expenditure to be wasteful, and that it call upon' the Government tq realise the policy of disarmament, said that the Prime Minister > had specifically declared that Britain stood for a reduction of armaments by agreement. That was the method also of the League of Nations. , It was assumed by some, theorists and speculative philosophers that if Britain reduced her armaments considerably and consistently, without regard to other nations, she would help along general, disarmament. ' Unfortunately, the facts confounded the theorists. The Government was not merely willing to take part in an effort for international, disarmament, but - to take a leading part. She was not pre-, pared, however, at present to go farther in unilateral action. , It seemed to him that if one thing had' become clearer than another/since the war it was that both economically and politically, whether they liked it or not, they were bound to an international system.. . < . With regard to the question whether public money should be spent on officers' training corps and cadet corps at public schools, Mr. Shaw said he had come to the on definite expert advice, that officers' training corps were really valuable organisations for providing a supply of officers. So long as the army existed on a voluntary basis there would have to be some such form of army recruiting. ... . ' ' ' ■■■■ No compulsion was' exercised by the Army Council, or by the Government, to* compel any boys to join those corps. They would continue to receive the Government's grant. ■ The Minister said he could not take the same attitude, however, about cadet corps.' Teachers in the elementary and secondary schools appeared, the great majority of cases, to be against that particular - training on educational grounds. He agreed with those representations and intended, with the consent of the House, to cease to give War Office assistance, to those bodies when the existing contracts expired. Mr. Cove's amendment was defeated by 274 votes to 21.

FOOD SUPPLIES. BRITAIN OR DOMINIONS ? (Received 9 a.m.) LONDON, March 25. In the House of Commons Mr. E. Shinwell, Financial Secretary to the War. Oflice, dealt with the question of the supply of British meat, and bread for the Army! He said the Conservative Government previously had insisted that the cost of purely British supplies was prohibitive. . Moreover most of the Army's beef was drawn from the Dominions. - Were they to destroy the: Dominion trado because of the dubious advantage to British farm*e:'s to supply the -Ariny ? British grown beef in six months had cost £200,000. . ,