ARMS PROGRAMME DEFENDED

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21906, 6 October 1936, Page 9

ARMS PROGRAMME DEFENDED

BRITISH AIR FORCE AS DETERRENT TO WAR

PRESS COMMENT ON SPEECH OF MR CHAMBERLAIN

(BBITISB orncut WTEBtESS.)

(Received October 5, 1 p.m.)

RUGBY, October 3. Editorial comment in the morning newspapers is principally- directed to the speech which the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Neville Chamberlain) delivered at the Conservative party conference at Margate.

“When I consider the disturbed conditions in the world, and all the restrictions which still hamper international trade, I cannot but be astonished at the progress of our industry,” said Mr Chamberlain. “Every month since January there has been an increase in employment at an average rate of nearly 90,000 a month. This improvement is not confined to particular areas. It covers almost every part of the country. Nearly all the important industries and even the depressed areas, the most obstinate and difficult part of the unemployment problem, are beginning to feel the effects of the revival.”

Wage increases recorded in 1936 represented another £ 18,000,000 yearly in the pockets of wageearners,* said Mr Chamberlain. Defence Policy The comment shows that the newspapers attach greatest importance to the passages in the Chancellor’s speech relating to reannament. The Chancellor told his audience the reasons, as the Minister responsible for the national finances, by which he had reached the conviction that the “state of the world rendered it essential to embark on the largest programme of expenditure on defence which the country has ever undertaken in time of peace.

“When the programme is completed we shall once more have a navy adequate to protect our vital lines of communication,” he said. “We shall also have an army, trifling in numbers beside the vast conscript armies of the Continent, but equipped with the most modern weapons and mechanical devices that science can give us. We shall have an air force which in speed, range, and power of the machines, and in the quality of its personnel will be second to none. We regard our air force, when fully developed, as the most formidable deterrent to war that could be devised. I support its establishment with greater conviction and enthusiasm because every one knows that it will never be used to make an unprovoked attack on any other country.”

A “Muffled Drum”

The Chancellor’s speech is not without its critics in the press. The “Daily Express” finds Mr Chamberlain’s drum somewhat muffled and his rearmament plans top distant.

Mr Chamberlain said it was futile and dangerous to attempt to distinguish between the armaments necessary to Britain’s own defence and what were required for the fulfilment of her international obligations.

The “Manchester Guardian” finds in this statement reason for despair. It says: “We are forced to believe that the Government still cannot understand even what is meant by the wisdom of collective security. They talk of defence and collective security as though they were two different things.” The “Daily Herald,” from a similar angle, says: “Once again we find private confidence in national competitive armaments regarded in some way as a guarantee of peace and security. One would think it impossible that such a belief could survive August, 1914, but here it is again as vigorous and dominant as ever, with nothing changed except that where then it was the navy which was to secure peace, it is now an air force of terrific striking power.”

“Critics Must Fall Silent”

“The Times,” commenting on Mr Chamberlain’s speech, recalls that the Prime Minister (Mr Stanley Baldwin) once said his Government would be judged mainly by the effect of its policy on unemploy: ment, and thinks that captious critics must fall silent before its record in this respect as set out in the speech by the Chancellor, who said: “Our anticipation last October, that if the National Government was again returned to office, we might expect a continuance of the industrial recovery which had taken place in the preceding four years, has been more than fulfilled.” Mr Chamberlain, in support of his contention, went on to -cite figures showing the remarkable expansion of the iron and steel industry, of the rayon and automobile industries, and even shipbuilding. “The Times” also considers that Mr Chamberlain stated the case for renovation of the national defences in which it presented itself to the judgment of the nation, and approves his reiteration that British rearmament has been and will be accompanied by constant efforts towards constructive international collaboration. The “Daily Telegraph” makes the point that international unrest is inflamed by economic difficulties, and draws attention to Mr Chamberlain’s references to the devaluation of the franc. Referring to the French Government’s decision, the Chancellor said: “I am very glad to co-operate with them, and with the Government of the United States in minimising the disturbing effects of that operation, and I am hopeful that the declarations issued by the three governments will, prove to be a step towards the restoration of more static conditions in the international monetary system. The British Government will at all times be ready to take its part in any steps that will help to restore confidence and remove, or at least reduce, the more excessive forms of restrictions by which the freedom of international trade is hampered.”