CHEQUE FOR £50,000.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 198, 23 August 1939, Page 9

CHEQUE FOR £50,000.

"GIFT FOR PEACE."

COST OF REARMAMENT.

WORLD'S ANTI-WAR MOOD

(By Air Mail.)

LONDON, August 4.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has received from Viscount Rothermere a cheque for £50,000 as a contribution towards the cost of rearmament.

Sir John Simon desires to express his warm thanks for this generous gift and his sincere appreciation of the public spirit which prompted it.

Lord Rothermere stated: "This is a peace-gift. It is not made because I see any imminent probability of war— in fact, I fail to see any real cause for conflict.

"It seems to me that the mood of the world, in all countries, is definitely against war. But I still believe that a Britain well armed is the best guarantee of peace.

"Six years ago I launched a campaign for national rearmament. To this I devoted all my time and energy, and on it I expended much money.

"It is only fitting that, as the pioneer of rearmament, I—who in a long working career have been fortunate in making a larger personal fortune than most of my contemporaries—should make some voluntary contribution to the cause of British security "This I can do with an easy heart. I am now devoid of family responsibility, and my gift thus entails no real personal sacrifice. I have never, during my six years' campaign, made one penny, directly or indirectly, from armament shares.

"Indeed, I protected myself against any accusation of financial interest by parting with shares even in automobile and other companies whose businesses might be favourably affected by rearmament.

"In making this gift, I have only one motive. It is to show that, although rearmament is now the official policy of the nation, and although I am now out of active business, my conviction that strong defences are Britain's first need is as strong to-day as when, six years ago, I first tried to awaken my countrymen to the peril of unpreparedness."