COST OF DEFENCE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 261, 2 August 1939, Page 10

COST OF DEFENCE

Total Of £5,400,000 This Year AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURE Capital expenditure involved in the expanded programmes for the t hree services will exceed £5,000,000 spread over the next two years, said the notingMinister of Finance, Mr. Savage, in discussing defence expenditure in his Budget speech last nights He said: Maintenance costs will be in the vicinity of £3,000,000 per annum. For all purposes the expenditure during this financial year will be about £5,400,000. The alarming manner in which the international situation has deteriorated during the past year lias rendered it necessary for the British Commonwealth and other peace-loving nations to accelerate their preparations for defence, said Mr. Savage. It is of tragic significance that the millions of pounds which the nations of the world tire daily expending on uneconomic weapons of defence or aggression, as the ease mav be, would go a long way toward raising the standard of living and improving the economic security of the peoples concerned. However, so long as peace and our national security continue to bo threatened, the Government will not fail in their duty, to build up defence forces adequate to protect our shores and to play a worthy part in the wider field of the general defence of tile British Commonwealth of Nations. Pacific Defence Conference. After referring to the Pacific Defence Conference and the report made by Major-General Mackesy on the land forces of the Dominion, Mr. Savage said: Adequate defence requires co-or-dination of effort among the three fighting services—the. Navy, the Army and the Air Force—and behind them an organization to minimize possible interruptions with trade and industry by building up reserve stocks of materials and generally providing for essential supplies for both the armed forces and the civilian population. In every required direction preparations to meet possible trouble are being pushed forward vigorously. On land the fortifications of the defended ports are being modernized and strengthened. Training facilities in all directions are being increased and every effort is being made to build up stocks of equipment, armament, ammunition and stores necessary for training and for mobilization. In general, new life has been put into the Array, which is being moulded as rapidly as ]>ossible into'a force of which the people maybe proud. The Air Force. The Air Force as a lighting unit hardly existed when the Government took office in 1935. The programme announced in 1937 has recently been expanded and great strides have been made in building up an efficient force. Efforts so far'have been concentrated largely on training personnel, constructing fully-equipped military aerodromes and generally building up an efficient ground organization. As a result of the visit of the t inted Kingdom Air Mission, arrangements have been made for the establishment of an aircraft factory in Wellington, and an order is Io be placed with the de Havillanil Aircraft Co., Ltd., for the manufacture of 100 Tiger Moth fighting planes at a cost of £L»t>,ooo. 'lhe expansion of the Hying training organization in New Zealand is being undeitaken in consultation with the Imperial Government, who have agreed to accept and pay for 220 New Zealand-trained pilots per annum. The railway workshops scheme for the training of apprentice personnel is developing in accordance with the initial programme. The instructional school at the Hutt workshops commenced training 30 mechanics in July, 1939, and it is anticipated that instruction will commence in the other railway workshops in November.