NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 149, 20 March 1933, Page 8

NOTES OF THE DAY

. Following upon the announcement last week of increases in the British Navy, Army and Air Estimates comes news of a substantial rise in the Canadian Defence Vote, and of discussions between the Federal Government in Australia and the Imperial authorities concerning a i 7 million loan for bringing the Commonwealth defences up to “the minimum of requirements.” The Australian programme, it is stated, embraces the complete rearmament of the coast defence works and the strengthening of the Navy and the Air Force. These activities in preparation for defence suggest that in Britain and in the Dominions the conviction is growing that there is more danger in the general situation than has appeared on the surface, and that in the not unlikely event of a collapse of the Disarmament Conference preparedness may become a necessity of national security. It cannot be supposed that increases in expenditure in these times of straitened finances are being incurred without serious consideration. Reduced expenditure would be much more welcome. It would be interesting to know whether anything has passed between our own Government and the Imperial authorities on the subject.

It has become necessary to make an appeal to the public on behalf of the Otaki Children’s Health Camp. Hitherto the camp has been financed by contributions from various social welfare" institutions and the sale of charity stamps. The funds from these sources have been used up, and. the public is now asked to assist the Wellington Health Camp Association by subscribing to the valuable work it has been doing. No special pleading should be necessary in commending this excellent humanitarian enterprise to the sympathetic attention of the community. Nearly 500 children have passed through the camp, which is able, when funds permit, to provide for an average of 77 at a time All these young people, states the Association, have received something impossible adequately to define—“not only a practical regime, designed to renew their physical foundations, but something for them to reflect upon later in life, arousing in the mind those impulses which bring human beings to a better understanding and appreciation of each other’s misfortunes/’ That is a splendid result, and it is to be hoped that the appeal will evoke a commensurate response..

There is evidence of increasing tension between Great Britain and Russia over the attitude taken up by the Soviet Government in connection with the arrest on charges of sabotage of British engineers associated with the Metropolitan Vickers Company. “People are not arrested in Russia without good reason,” says M. Litvinoff. who asserts that the O.G.P.U holds proofs that the accused are guilty of "the gravest crimes.” The arrests may be, as Mr. J. H. Thomas has suggested in a speech reported to-day, one of these melodramatic affairs which the Russian authorities are in the habit of staging in order to distract the people’s attention from their own grievances against the Government. It will not be the first time, moreover, that this diversion has involved the Soviet in difficulties with a foreign Government. The question at issue between Britain and Russia in this particular instance is whether those arrested are to be given every possible means of proving their innocence, or are to be subjected to the summary procedure the O.G.P.U. is empowered to use for the suppression of sabotage. From the sentences of this unjudicial body there is no appeal. British public opinion will not tolerate the application of such summary methods to British citizens.

When one considers that normally a new United States Congress is not convened until December, or 13 months after its election by popular vote, it is no less than marvellous to note how much has been done in Washington since Mr. Roosevelt’s inauguration as President two weeks ago. The new President has not only shown a rare capacity for swift action but, what must have been more difficult, has succeeded in carrying the Legislature with him. On Saturday it was announced that the Economy Bill, making cuts amounting to 500 million dollars, had passed both House and Senate. Prior to that the President obtained wide powers to deal with the banking crisis, his Beer Bill is making rapid progress, and he is making ready to move on to other problems, such as farm relief. Having got a difficult legislative machine moving, he is keeping it moving, proving once again that nothing succeeds like success. If he can hold the secret of the springs of action which he seems to have found, his advent should mean much to America and to the world.