NEED FOR ARMS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 183, 4 July 1936, Page 11

NEED FOR ARMS

OUR PRESENT-DAY DANGERS

OPINION OF DR. C. J. ROLLS.

“I believe that we should insist on peace at any price, even at the price of war, and the only way to ensure peace is to have arms sufficiently strong to enable us to dictate terms to those who cannot control their aggressive spirits,” said Dr. C. J. Rolls, director in Australia and New Zealand for the Sudan Interior Mission, in addressing a large gathering at the Palmerston North Citizens’ Lunch Club yesterday. Dr. Rolls took as his subject the international situation in the Mediterranean, and he gave a strong warning to the British Empire to be on the alert against the power of Signor Mussolini, not only in his own country, but expressed in alliances with other nations and then activities by the latter. The chair was occupied by Mr H. E. Kissling.

Much of the speaker’s address was on the lines of an interview which he gave to the “Standard” recently, and in which he discussed Signor Mussolini’s aims for the creation of a great Roman Empire. Dr. Rolls said yesterday that although his talk would not be altogether pleasant, he did not want to be thought a pessimist. Personally, he was optimistic, but it was very difficult, when one regarded the Mediterranean situation, to realise just what was going to happen. He outlined a promise given to Italy, at the time of the Great War, of the gift of the administration of Abyssinia, and the subsequent refusal of the request when it had been made at the close of the war. Italy had been given Italian Somaliland instead. Signor Mussolini, not satisfied, had set about gaining Abyssinia. He had been checked in Arabia when trouble had been fomented between the Yemen and ilie Wahabis and .Britain had assisted Ibn Saud. In 1928 Italy had insisted, in opposition :c B;it:;in, ihat Abyssinia be allowed membership of the" League of Nations. Britain had been allowed to build a barrage at Lake Tsana and had also been given permission to build roads. Italy had been refused permission by the Abyssinian King to build a railway from Eritrea to Italian Somaliland. England had been getting too much power for the desires of Signor Mussolini, so he had advocated Abyssinia’s cause. Certain demands had been made of the King of Abyssinia when the country had been allowed to become a member of the League. The King had been carrying out reforms far more quickly than had been anticipated and Signor Mussolini had seen that if he delayed lie would not be able to invade Abyssinia on the grounds of irregularities being practised there. The speaker dealt briefly with Italian propaganda, and said that Signor Mussolini had not wanted control of Abyssinia to improve conditions there. He wished to have a weapon with which to occupy Egypt. Troops and excellent equipment had been massed on the Libyan border, some months ago, all under Italian control, with caterpillar-tracked vehicles to allow them to be moved speedily across the desert on Egypt. Britain had sent a huge fleet to the Mediterranean. Mussolini had demanded the removal of the ships. Britain had in turn demanded the removal of troops. As' a consequence 35,000 troops had been removedhut the equipment had been left in position.

IMPORTANCE OF SUEZ CANAL. “Italy sees that to gain control of the Suez Canal at both ends would paralyse British shipping to her Far Eastern Dominions and also to Australia and New Zealand,” proceeded Dr. Rolls. “That would give Japan a chance and it would thus also assist Germany. Germany and Italy have recently completed friendly agreements. Italy says that she will have nothing whatever to do with Japan, but I think that is only bluff. The coloured races of India and Africa are asking why Britain was not able to prevent the invasion of Abyssinia in such a manner. In the first place Britain was not ready. She was at least honest in her attempts at bringing about world disarmament, and the others stole a march on her. Mr Winston Churchill told Britain of the thousands of ’planes Germany was building, and Italy has also been building up a hugh army. There are pacifists going about the country now, but I do not believe in that. To-day you cannot buy certain things produced in England. That is because the factories are making other things as speedily as they can. “We need to face the situation as it is to-day; do not think that we in New Zealand are safe and will not be in the running,” Dr. Rolls said. “Japan has her eyes on New Zealand. Russia is an unknown quantity in relation to Japan. An alliance between Germany and Japan might cripple her and allow an amalgamation of over 600,000,000 of the world’s people in China and Japan. So the struggle is being prepared for. That is the positon, and yet we are called alarmists. Persia is coming under German control because Germany recognises that one of the finest oil wells in the world is there, and she must have oil. Persia is just across the mountains from India, and it would be very convenient to have a flying field there so that India could be bombed easily. The Jews are doing wonderful work in Palestine now and Britain nas been criticised for spending millions in that country, the statement being made that neither interest nor capital on the money expended will be returned. That is quite untrue, because last year there was a Budget surplus of £4,000,000, under the Jews, and the year before one of £1,500,000. Italian propaganda is being fed to the Arabs, and also to the Jews. There is this about it, the Jews are intensely loyal and I think thnt it would be far better to give a little more favour to them rather than to the Arabs. The country is being developed marvellously; it will prove one of the finest investments Britain lias ever made, and it is, above all, the most strategic position in the whole of the Mediterranean. There is propaganda all the time lor these forces I have told you about, not only in the East but in Great Britain and among our own ranks. I ask you not to allow your sympathies'to sway your judgment when you hear this propaganda. AVe need to 'be on our guard to see that we do not lose out on our Empire.” A vote of thanks to the speaker was carried with acclamation. The visitors welcomed were Messrs J. J. Thomason (Dunedin), AV. LRanstead (Hamilton), F. Opie (Palinerston North), 33. 33. Rowe (Kongo tea) , and A. Alsop (Manawatu Heads).