DEFENCE PLANS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 202, 23 May 1936, Page 9

DEFENCE PLANS

New Minister Reviews Recent Steps PROGRESS IN BRITAIN Inquiry on Vulnerability of Battleships (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, Maj- 21. Sir Thomas luskip, the recentlyappointed Minister j for Co-ordination of Defelice, made ins first important speech in Hie House of Commons this afternoon in the course of which lie reviewed the nature and scope of the work he has undertaken in the nine weeks since he took up Hie appointment.

He described a series of inquiries he lias put in hand regarding the vulnerability of the battleship, Hie organisation of the Fleet air arm and war time food supplies, ami preliminary steps taken for securing an adequate response from the industrial system to the needs of the defence services and particularly to the requirements of Air Force expansion. To overtake the accumulated deficiencies of many years in a short period, Sir Thomas Inskip declared, was a great enterprise, but be believed they were on the road to accomplishing it. A New Factor. In his opening remarks the Minister drew a line of division between Opposition and Government supporters. The former, he said, thought there was something ominous in the preparations the country was called upon to make, while the latter were persuaded, as he was, that the British claims for defence would not alarm a single nation in the world but would foster an all-import-ant sense of world security. At the same time, he emphasised that the fact that the defence services had to be ready to take part in collective action under the Covenant of the League in circumstances which might be quite unforeseen had introduced a new factor into the problems of those who had to form strategic conceptions necessary for a complete system of defence. Speaking of sub-committees of the Committee of Imperial Defence which were investigating the question of the battleship and of the Fleet air arm, Sir Thomas Inskip said it was attractive to envisage grand plans and spectacular decisions, but his inclination did not lie that way. Nevertheless, he would not shrink from any decision, however important, if he were convinced it was necessary. Food in War-time. Sir William Beveridge had agreed to serve as chairman of another subcommittee investigating the all-import-ant subject of food in war-time—-a question which involved such details as transport, storage, distribution, and home production. All aspects of food supply would come under consideration. Scientific research was vital in problems of defence, and the services of very eminent scientists were being utilised in the development of the schemes. A detailed survey had been made of the material, operative and technical resources of industry. Suitable firms ordinarily engaged on peacetime activities had been classiiled, inspected, tabulated and allotted to the different -service departments. An orderly plan had been drawn up which embraced not only such requirements as production of shells and shell components, but provided for a factor to which attention had been directed by Mr. David Lloyd George and Sir Austen Chamberlain in previous debates, namely, the production of essential tools and gauges. He hoped within a few days to arrange for the allocation of contracts for full supply of these essentials and for necessary acceleration of production. Air Force Expansion. Dealing with expansion of the aircraft Industry necessary for the great numbers of aircraft required by the three-fold increase of the Air Force, the Minister explained that steps were being taken to enlist motor manufacturers in the scheme for building up a reserve of output. They had been asked to build new premises or extensions at Government expense. The re muneration they would receive would be a fee for management, and the premises, which would remain the property of the Government, would be on a care and maintenance basis. Questioned by Mr. Winston Churchill concerning rapidity of production and priority of Government orders, Sir Thomas Inskip reminded the House that the Government had no compulsory powers. Mr. Churchill, he said, was naturally Impressed by the example of foreign G-overnments which had virtuallly placed a great part of their industrial systems on a war-time basis, and was inviting the British Government to follow that example. But the Government was trying to achieve a successful result without undue disturbance of normal trade. It was conceivable, he added, that events might’compel the Government to change its mind.

PLAN INADEQUATE

Mr. Churchill’s Argument PROGRAMME IN ARREARS London, May 21. Mr. Winston Churchill, following Sir Thomas Inskip in the House of Commons debate, argued that the Govern meat’s programme was inadequate and could not be punctually carried out. All Europe was arming. "Show me a single quarter of the world,” he said “where there is improvement. Show me a single reassuring fact. Every thing is worse from the viewpoint of peace aud safety as compared with this time last year.” Yet the Government’s programme was already heavily in arrears They would have to pass through a long valley of unprotectedness in which events in Europe might reach a climax.

Mr. Churchill again urged the formation of a Ministry of Munitions ami said that the whole of industry In Germany was organised for war. Sir Thomas Inskip’s speech had conveyed no idea of the smoothness with which Germany could pour out an almost 11m ftless flow of the most horrible weapons of human destruction ever placed in the hands of men. Lieut-Commandwr R. T. EL Fletcher

(Lab., Nuneaton) urged the Govern ment not to wait until 1937 for an Imperial Conference. The Dominion Prime Ministers should be summoned immediately to settle the future foreign policy of the Commonwealth and defence plans to fulfil that policy. The world would not be slow to appreciate all that would be implied. Sir Thomas Inskip, in replying, said that the Government had decided that the time had not come for the establishment of a Ministry of Munitions, but lie promised to consider the formation of a Ministry of Supplies. Mr. Winston Churchill asked for an assurance that Sir Thomas Inskip would not hesitate to plunge the country into inconvenience rather than let the programme fail. Sir Thomas Inskip replied that If the country was to he involved in a disaster it would be strong and brave enough to bear it. The Government would not hesitate to tell the country the truth,