"SUPREME PERIL IN EUROPE," SAYS MR. CHURCHILL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23343, 28 August 1950, Page 5

"SUPREME PERIL IN EUROPE," SAYS MR. CHURCHILL

(N.Z.P. A.—Reuter—Copyright.) (10 a.m.) LONDON, August 27. Mr. Winston Churchill, in a nation-wide broadcast last night, declared that Europe was in "grave peril” from Communist attack. He pledged Britain’s Conservative Party to support all the necessary defence measures. He said: "The danger in Europe is nearer than that in Korea, and is on an incomparably larger scale.

to Russia—some of them “of a class required for the manufacture and repair of tanks.” The Conservative leader urged that orders should be given now to stop the export of machine tools, Diesel engines and similar equipment to Russia, He alleged there were “grave cases of lack of provision, of hesitancy and changes of plan at work throughout the whole system of defence, adding to its heavy cost and diminishing its already inadequate strength. Some of them were more suited to a secret session of Parliament than to a public broadcast.” Referring to Mr. Attlee’s rejection of his recent demand that Parliament should be recalled before September 12, the date for which the new session has been set, Mr. Churchill said that when Parliament adjourned on July 26 the Government had placed before it a £100,000,000 plan for strengthening Britain's defences. Five days later Mr. Attlee asked to see him and read to him an announcement of a “entirely new and much larger plan costing from £300,000,000 to £400,000,000 yearly.” “Far-Reaching Changes” Mr. Churchill said the revised plan would require “far-reaching changes in the whole national industry and economy. Obviously this was a matter on which the House of Commons should be consulted at the earliest moment.” Stressing the desire of his party to support the Government on vital defence considerations, he accused Mr. Attlee of ignoring the wishes of half the nation. Mr. Churchill criticised what he called slowness in Ministerial action regarding Korea. “On July 27 the United Nations call--led upon members to defend South Korea against violent aggression from the north. It took the Socialist Gov- . eminent a month to make up their i minds whether or not to send an expeditionary force to comply with this request. , . “Another month has passed since the decision to send a small force from here was announced and more than a third month will pass before it can embark on its six weeks’ voyage.” I A Government spokesman, referring ' to Mr. Churchill’s disclosure that Soviet Government inspectors have access to British factories producing vital deI fence equipment, said it should be a 'simple matter to keep “out of sight” things Soviet inspectors should not see. A proportion of the orders for machine tools were covered by the British trade agreement concluded in Moscow in 1947. In return for these j Britain receives grain and other commodities.

"My eyes are not fixed upon 1 Korea. There may soon be Com- J munist attacks upon Tibet and Persia, but the supreme peril is < in Europe. We must try to close ‘ the hideous gap on the European front.” < Mr. Churchill reiterated that he did ! not believe a major war was im-|! minent, adding: “No one can be sure, ; but I believe we still have a breathing j space and if we use it wisely we may ’ still ward off this horror from the : world. If, in two or three years, should that be granted us, we can make rea- , sonable defence for free countries out- J side the Iron Curtain while at the same : time the United States maintains andj j increases her superiority in the atomic j ‘ bomb the best hope will be given of . reaching a final peace settlement.” j; Mr. Churchill said that during the i Council of Europe meeting in Stras-, bourg “the Germans declared that they 1 1 did not want to create a German ‘ national army but were willing to serve ! in a European defence force. j “Secondly, France, by a noble ges- 1 ture, welcomed the idea of French and German soldiers standing firm side by ! side in the defence of freedom. , “Great Event In Europe.” 11 “This is a great event in the history \ of Europe. Dr. Adenauer, the German |. Prime Minister, points to very large 1 ‘heavily armed Communist German forces which have been raised in the 1 Russian zone which, he says, may 1 amount to several hundred thousand ; men disguised as police but really an army.’ “Is not this exactly the same tech- 1 nique which the Kremlin oligarchy car- ' I ried out in North Korea? At the present time the atomic bomb is the ! sole deterrent against an aggressive ; Communist invasion. No wonder the Communists would like to ban it in the •' name of peace. They would then have ; Europe naked and at their mercy.” Mr. Churchill added he was sorry an effort was not made to have a personal talk on the highest level with the leaders of the Soviet Government. “The only way to deal with Communist Russia is by having superior i strength in one form or another and, then acting with reason and fairness. This is the plan of battle for peace ! and the only plan which has a chance of success.” | Russian Officials’ Entry t Earlier in his speech Mr. Churchill ' stated that the Russian Government In* specters had access to defence factories in Britain engaged on confidential work, The reason was that Britain | was producing machine tools for export