ARMS SITUATION

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 295, 10 November 1934, Page 7

ARMS SITUATION

MR CHURCHILL’S ANALYSIS

OTHER NATIONS PREPARED

WEAKNESS OF BRITAIN

(United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.)

Received November 10, 12.15 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 9

Mr Winston Churchill in a speech reviewing world conditions, referred to the House of Common arms debate. He declared that a real inquiry ought to be made into the alarming decline of Britain’s means for mailing defence weapons. Should danger come ifritain was much less prepared than in Iyj.4, whereas every oilier large country had prepared on a scale undreamed of in lull.

Every factory in Germany, France and Italy was organised to turn over at a tew hours’ notice from peace to war production, from sewing machines to machine-guns, from motors to tanks, from perfumes to poison gas, from chemicals to explosives. Tne whole hideous process had been studied with infinite care.

By pressing a button, the whole of Germany could be turned to the single purpose of producing death-dealing macninery. Tnis was not the moment to break down the few woefully shrunken armament factories which had survived the long process of British disarmament, he said. It was absurd to suggest that the armament firms had ever influenced Britain’s foreign policy. Mr Churchill added that Mr Ramsay MacDonald boasted he had continually reduced defences, hoping others would follow. This had proved utterly wrong and Mr MacDonald was now realising that the vast Empire whose weak defences made it the prey to hungry rivals was a new factor in European instability. Mr Churchill concluded by stating that lie intended to move an amendment to the air defence address, giving the House of Commons the opportunity to face realities.

CONTROL OF EXPORTS

ORGANISATION IN BRITAIN.

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Nov 8

Speaking in the House of Commons on the Armaments question, the Foreign Secretary (Sir John Simon) said that no consignment of armaments could leave Britain without a license. The Customs and excise services were uncorrupted. The organisation was adequate, and there was no prospect whatever of arms being exported from Britain without a license.

Any British exporter had to establish to the satisfaction of the proper department the real destination of his goods. They refused the benefit of the credit system to exporters of munitions, and, as far as he knew, they were the only country in the world to do so. Further, they never subsidised a private firm for production of arms.