War and Armaments

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 59, 2 December 1933, Page 9

War and Armaments

Sir, —In his letter of November 21 “Pharos” states that he was personally acquainted with the lack of eouipment in camps as a proof of Britain’s war unpreparedness. It is quite understandable that troops on Gallipoli came from New Zealand and Australia and that adequate supplies of materials would not arrive for some considerable time. But “Pharos” does not say that the Turks were adequately supplied with ammunition and that New Zealanders and Australians on Gallipoli were killed with English and French shells.

Again, in “Pharos’s” letter of the 28th ulto., he says “a large proportion of the work carried out by the steel, chemiea! and aircraft industries consists of ordinary commercial activity, etc..” and goes on to say “conversion of their plants to a war basis means the sacrifice of peace profits.” Now that would be a shame seeing that in the Great War even after it was found necessary to protect the nation from these patriots and profits were “drastically limited” (that sounded as if it hurt. “Pharos”) shareholders were able to obtain a miserly 3S per cent, dividend on their shares. I do not think “Pharos” stands on healthy ground when he accuses Miss Stiles of distortion of facts and deliberate vagueness. It was not until the end of 1914 that Germany had in commission the number of battleships it was indicated she would have in 1912. As for “Pharos’s” colleague. “Dialsight.” I certainly admit it is very noble of Navy League members to burden themselves with armament shares, because after all they pay such beggarly dividends and if they did not take up these shares, we know they would go

begging. And he must admit that if as he says “Anti-defence leagues must be a great encouragement to foreign military Powers” then these British aftnament firms must be and have been of great assistance to them. Boiled down, it conics to this; we are all patriots, some of us In the right sense of the word. We love England enough not to want to see her policy dictated by traffickers in armaments. If England must fight, then let us be sure that she is fighting for the right and that she. is not governed by men directly or indirectly whose only loyalty is. to their own pockets.—l am, ete., JOAN DARK. Wellington, December 1.