PEACE OR WAR?

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19461, 7 November 1928, Page 8

PEACE OR WAR?

■ »" NECESSITY FOR STRONG NAVY. Speaking at the Navy League function yesterday the president (Mr J. J. Dougall), in •welcoming Mr Percy Hutchison, said that it was infrequent to meet a man nowadays who considered that the Navy League deserved support. "The British people," Mr Dougall continued, "are a curious quantity. . With their back up against it there, is nothing on earth better; but unless they are up against the wall they are the most apathetic people alive. People say that there, is no necessity for a strong navy. The No More War people had the audacity to ask the Navy League to join up! (Laughter.) I don't wish to say a single word to upset the equanimity of the members of that movement, but we have to face the facts. If there' is one fact more certain than another it is that the human race will never lie down in peace and quietness. The nation that wants peace prepares for war. War is the most hideous thing on earth, and is becoming more hideous. There is hope for the abolition of war from the fact that the next war will mean annihilation. "As members of the Navy League we want to imbue other people with the idea of the inaccuracy of the belief that there will be no more war. As Lord Jellicoe says, the nation that believes that there will be no more war is in danger of being wiped out. Furthermore, the surface ship, and not aero-planes-will be the ship of the future." Mr Hutchison, in acknowledging the welcome, said he took particular interest in addressing schools and colleges throughout the country, for be saw there the .grounds for preparing the future generation for the possibilities of war; it was always necessary to keep before the public mind the danger of war if Britain was not prepared for it with a strong and mighty navy.