DEFENCE PLAN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 257, 27 September 1933, Page 7

DEFENCE PLAN.

AUSTRALIA’S NAVAL REQUIREMENTS. LORD LLOYD’S OBSERVATION. LONDON, Sept. 26. “It is most encouraging to learn that the great defence campaign in Australia has given the Imperial Parliament a badly needed lead, which I hope will be followed,” said Lord Lloyd when interviewed by the Sun Agency. Lord Lloyd is president of the Navy League. “It is one thing to give the world an example of disarmament and another to persist in a policy of unilateral disarmament which would actually encourage other nations to seize the chance of augmenting their naval power at the expense of EnglatW. The Empire could not watch events in the Far East and the rising hegemony of Japan in those waters without concern. The fact that America is author of the Kellogg Pact does not blind us as to their huge expansion in naval expenditure and personnel. Franeo-Italian rivalry for mastery of the Mediterranean is not a matter of mere academic interest to a Power whose vital communications run through that sea. “The naval requirements of other countries are in no wise comparable to Britain’s, because the Empire’s sea communications are vital to England, and the Dominions must again be free to build what is necessary for their own safety,” said Lord Lloyd. “It is not a question of rivalry. Let other nations build for,their needs, but we must be free to do the same. We know from the considered pronouncements of Lord Beatty and Lord Jellicoe that 70 cruisers are the bare minimum needed to defend 85,000 miles of sea route. Our present world commitments are far larger, yet we have only 36 cruisers that are not obsolete to discharge our vast responsibilities of policing and protection. AMERICA IMPRESSED. STRENGTHENING OPPORTUNE. WASHINGTON, Sept. 25. ' The announcement of Australia’s new defence policy by Sir George Pearce has caused a profound impression on official circles in Washington, which finds itself in complete harmony wdth Australia’s proposals. No phase of Australia’s activities is more closely watched here than the Commonwealth’s naval defence policj T . Sir George Pearce’s pronouncement synchronises with the considered judgment of the United States that the time is opportune, perhaps overdue, for strengthening American naval policy, especially in the Pacific, where the whole of the American fleet has been retained for the past year. Australia’s action may cause a proper recognition among the American people of the vital need for practical steps to assure peace in the Pacific.