REARMAMENT

Grey River Argus, 16 October 1936, Page 10

REARMAMENT

BRITISH POLICY Army Recruits (Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.) LONDON, October 13. Instead oh continuing to turn away recruits medically unfit, the Army has established a school of physical training. designed to enable; them to qualify. The number of young men recently rejected reached the appnl'ing total of GO per cent. The authorities hope, by proper feeding, fresh air, and exercise that most of them will be enabled to qualify for enlistment. The' First. Lord of the, Admiralty discussed Imperial defence from the angle of inter-service and c.o-opera-t'on, in an address at Edinburgh. Sir S. Iloarc began by recalling the main requirements of the defence pro-, gramme, which were the security of overseas communications, the protection of home shore;- from attack, and the. defence of Imperial bases and territories, and added: "The further obligations of col’ective security I do not elaborate, n.ot. because I have abandoned the ideal ot collective security, but because I am convinced that our l first duty,, iwhethen- for ourselves or others,, is to make our own position secure. You cannot protect others until you can protect yourself, nor, incidenta/'Py, can you have collective security without a collective system. Collective security last autumn virtually meant, the British Fleet. When next it is applied it must moan something much more than the naval, military, and. air effort, of a single country."

Instancing the importance of cooperation between the three services on a number of past occasions in Brit’sh history, the First Lord argued that planning for co-operation wa' now essential, with modern inventions, discoveries and developments, and the third arm’s unprecedented speed. The whole problem of defence had, in the last 20 years, become immeasurably more complicated. For new and complicated functions, now organs were undoubtedly necessary, but how were they to be created? In the past, the main strands of co-operation had been woven by actual experience, and, so far as possible, Sir S. Tloare thought that the same policy should bo pursued for the future.

NEW ZEALAND VIEWS. DUNEDIN. October 14. Tho scope of tlie. movement, to foster the defence 'Of the Dominion wan outlined this morning al Dunedin by Mr 'Barrowclough. an Auckland solicitor. although he stated a full discosure con'd not be made until after the conference of delegates from the four centres. at Wellington to-morrow. Mr Ba rroiw clough said there wa" some misapprehension as to the object of the National Defence League. It was not Fascist nor anti-Govern-ment, but merely to ensure that with due regard to finance it ho. young men, as welTas the resources of the country would bo effic.tontly organised so that war wou’d not find us untrained or half-trained. Provisional committees already existed in the tour centres. AUCKLAND, October 13.

“Britain is the retired burglar of the won'd,’’ declared Rev. Dr. .1. .1. North in a dtoeussron on the present armaments race at the annual ass.cm blv of the New Zealand Baptist Union. “We own .one-fifth of the earth,, and wo have got it- through aggressive wars. Wei say we will not do it again, but we have the ‘boodle.’ ’’ The discussion was the outcome of a resolution from the public quest one committee moved by the Rev. N. JR. Woiod: That the assembly viewed with grave concern the new armaments race wh-'ch menaced the world with war; it dop'ored the economic war of high tariffs, embargoes, and quota 0 , which bo-rei harshly on over-populated lands with poor natural and colon'a 1 resources, and which fomented bittc ness.

The resolution urged the Government to give a lead in adopting measures wh'ch might finally remove the cau°e 8 of international irritai on. The resolution was strongly condemned by several speakers. “This, idotitirine that war is contrary to the teaching of Christ is not true,’’ said the RGv. L. Macky, Ba.• merUon North. “Our salvation was secured not by pae’fism but by the sword. There would have been no peace between God and us if Chris* han not died by (he swjord. Pacifism ignored the nature of th'ngs. The peace of 100 ycar s was cecured because Britain was strom- < noojdi to show her teeth. Tn the preuent state of the world our safety depended on effective armed forces, sa d the Bev. J. Tl’ddlestone. It was most disturb'ng 'n the recent Abyssinian di-putq to see ‘.our na/.'on retreat. An amendment (was moved affirming the assembly’s 'oyalty to the const” hition and the Throne, but the d’s cns !, 'on was finally ruled out of order and 'apsed.

AIR ARMAMENT IN WALES. LONDON. October 13. At the trial of Profo'sor Lews and others at Carnarvon Assizes. I lie nr-ni-ed said that Welsh was the'r nat.’ve tongue, and they pleaded ioi guiltv in English, under protest. Then they'dia'l'cnged five jurymen, on thground Hint, those did not nmb-i--dnnd Welsh. They wore replaced. The proseeut'on said that every hut on the: airfield site was burnt down. Lewis tir'd the jury that he had no criminal intention, hut felt h s action saved the honour of the University of Wales. The jury wore unable to agree, ami the case will' brt heard at the ii“xt Ass’zes. Bail was allowed. The dfondants were cheered, and cnri-ed shoulder high through the Oi‘to Senia re. LONDON. October 12. “Dictators-are the. only - possible result of the invention of the microphone.” declared .Sir 'l. Luskin, spe.iking at Portsmouth. He added Hint formerly politicians could only address six' thousand at the most, "now 150.060 could be massed together, resulting in excitement and cheering, which went to the people’s heads, mid helped the Dictators