BELGIUM’S DEFENCE

Grey River Argus, 20 October 1936, Page 5

BELGIUM’S DEFENCE

MORE SELF RELIANT Collective Security Not Enough VARIED BRITISH VIEWS. (British Official Wireless). RUGBY. October 18. Communications and r eimrts reaching London from Brussels and Paris made it :-le:.i that the eai.iest interpre'afi(,r,s of King- Leopold’s speech failed to do justice to the intention of the Belgian Government to s ail Iby its existing ol ; r ations, including those arising from the Four I'ower agreement of ALarch 19th. Both in official quarters, and the uimflictal comment, it is possible to disceern the relief and satisfaction with which that elucidation has been received.

The “Daily Telegraph” thinks that Belgium li-as dom- more than in:reduce a fresh element of uncertainly into the European calculations. Her attitude, however natural in the geog'-.•phieal and political situation in which she is placed, sensibly diminishes 'he prospect of n new Locarno, tlmt would give pronrse of security to V estern Europe. It draws the moral from the general retreat into isolation, that the Government’s programme of rearmament must be pressed forward. Air Winston (,'hu I'eh ill. in a speech, referred Io I lie King of the Belgians’ declaration, which he described as “another melancholy and disconcerting event in Europe.” He expressed the hope that the declaration might be taken rather as a demand for a clarification of the situation in the West, and an expression of the deep and natural anxieties of the Belgian people in the presence of the immense and ever-growing armaments of Germany, than as a decision of policy.

MINISTER EXPLAINS. BRUSSELS, October IS. Al. spaak (Belgian Alinister) in a speech here, repeated that Belgium, true to her obligations, had only indicated the lines on which a new Western Pact, to replace the Locarno Pact, must be based. Belgium remained true to the principles of collective security, and of mutual assistance, but it was now impossible to accept these ideas as being the exclusive basis of her foreign policy. He continued: “Remember Abyssinia, which was led to believe that, by basing her defence upon a policy of collective security, she would be saved! Do you want, that to happen, to us " A GLOOMY VIEW. NEW YORK, October 19. Air W'.iU, a member of the New South Wales Upper House, returning from Europe, says: “After travelling on the Continent.” he said, “1 am convinced that war is coming. Everywhere there is an air of preparedness, with thousands of soldiers in uniform walking the streets of all towns.” He believes the final reckoning will be a serious matter for Australia, which should devote attention to the establishment of a- huge air fleet of bombers.