AIR DEFENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 8, 10 January 1934, Page 7

AIR DEFENCE

WEAKNESS IN BRITAIN

POLICY STATEMENT

DISCUSSION IN LORDS

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, "November 30. The House of Lords was occupied yesterday ■with a discussion on Britain's strength in the air, and a statement of the Government's policy was made by Lord Londonderry, Minister ior Air. Both the Duke- of Sutherland and Lord Lloyd expressed anxiety over the relative strength of Britishair armaments. In the course of his speech, the Duke of Sutherland said it was recorded that the total weight of bombs dropped on London during the air raids in Iho.war was 30 tons. Ten aeroplanes of the Gorman air liner class D2QOO could now drop the samo weight of bombs in one raid in. a single day. Germany, so far as we kne,w, only had- two' machines of this particular class, but she was building more, and this particular class represented the; most; formidable type of potential night bomberS. Last year the. American civil air service flew 50,900,000 miles, that of Germany flew •'5^700,000 miles,' and that of France 5,400,000 miles. Italy came next with 2,800,000 miles/ Holland followed with 1,900,000 miles, and Great Britain came last with 1,700,000 odd. These figures showed the comparative loss of reserves we should have in commercial machines convertible to war purposes , and> our' lack" of ability to expand quickly in case of need. We were no longer-an: island but a Continental nation from the aerial point of view, and. as such must be fully prepared. ' We :. could :no longer afford to finish the game of bowls before the Armada approached. We should " all worlf,'hope, and pray that there would never be Janothor war, and that the great nations would agree to disarmament, but we should all see, if it did compj in spite' of every human offort to the contrary, that we were not found hopelessly supine and apathetic. THE OPPOSITION VIEWPOINT. Lord Ponsonby, speaking, for the Opposition, said that we had now in our hands a weapon so devastating that statesmen of all political creeds and nations agreed tha,t to use it might mean the destruction of our present civilisation. He was confident that the Secretary of State for Air would not listen to any- of the clamour for rearmament of the air arm with which the.newspapers were so full-, thesedays.' . ■■■■) ■.'■' .'■: ■>.-- '■- .' ■'■ ■'■ •■.:.-; :i.^ '■ •■■' '• Lord Londonderry recalled the'extent to which Great Britain has disarmed since the war, and had thus renounced its position as the first'air Power in the world. This-we did as an earnest of f our specific■:intentions and' proof' of our sincerity.' But unhappily: our' example had met with no response. Therefore, the path of air, disarmament could no longer be followed, and the Government had made it. clear at Geneva that it recognised the need for a one-Power standard in the air for this country. It now appeared that there ■were nations which would not.ugree to ; abolition of naval and military aviation, and there were great practical 1 difficulties in the way of so far-reaching a measure., ':.', ■ . ■„■ . ' f'J. have been asked, V continued Lord Londonderry,'' whether the Government still stands ,by the declaration of policy made by the then Prime Minister in 1923 in the matter of the Home Defence Force/ I- will not repeat the • terms of that pronouncement," but have no; hesitation in answering in the, affirmative.. There has not been, and I <lo nbt see how there can ever be, a change in the policy, which was then laid down after mature consideration and deliberatioii in the light ; of an exhaustive review of the. whole field of Imperial defence by a most authoritative Committee under the chairmanship' of the noble marquess, Lard Salisbury." ■. - ' _.; ', , , '■<■'"■■; ,' ■ ■■■.:•-: ■ ' FOREIGN ARMAMBN^a It was true, Lord. Londonderry continued, that, under tho terms of. the Industrial Recovery Act, the President of the United States had sanctioned ex? penditure designed to provide '. the American air services with a substantial accession of strength. \ It ,was. also a fact that the Japanese and Soviet Governments had embarked on large programmes ©f increases in their air forces. Theßussian Minister, of War had, indeed, announced the intention of the Soviet Government to proceed rapidly with, the development of an even-more powerful air force ;than they" at present possessed, in the publicly-expressed belief i that that Power which was strongest in the air was strongest all round. These developments abroad wore% naturally- causing grave concern to his Majesty's Government, which was devoting the most earnest attention to their inevitable reactions on_ British' -, policy. '■ : ' ■ '■ ■■■!.-■■'}: Britain's present relative weakness in the air could not be allowed to con-1 tinue;, the whole policy pursued, by his Majesty's Government in the "matter of air disarmament; was proof of its full acceptance of this proposition. They must all hope that it would be possible to fix a first-line strength, for tho'prin:eipal air Powers whicli would, neither be a threat to the peace of the world nor impose an' intolerable financial burden. /These islands and the, Empire as a whole must be made safe in the air, but a race in armanients must at all costs be avoided. FACING OUR RESPONSIBILITIES. When Mr. Lansbury and Sir' Stafford Cripps went up arid down the country advising Britain's young men to keep ■out of Britain's defence forces and urging" the trade unions to organise a general strike against armaments and war, they were preaching a gospel tho adoption of which would remove from the council table of tho world the greatest influence that existed upon the side of peace. When this country was disarmed she could no longer speak with authority to the armed nations, and the greatest threat to the peace of 'the world would como when we as a nation refused to undertake our responsibility and our financial obligations for ■the organisation. which that peace required. The appropriate steps at this difficult juncture of the world's history to ensure that the British Empire was at least as strong* in the air as any other great nation were, as ho had said, at the present moment under examination by his Majesty's Government, and he did not want to prejudice that exa.minationi Tho Government had made the attainment of parity in the air, as at ,sea, one- of- tho-most important points of its policy.' Ho recognised his responsibilities, in this matter, and should not hesitate, if necessary, to propose such..concre^o measures as were necessary to implement that policy. (Cheers.)