BRITISH DEFENCE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 261, 2 October 1936, Page 7

BRITISH DEFENCE

FACTOR FOR PEACE. SIR S. HOARE’S OUTLINE. PRESENT GRAVE SITUATION. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) Received October 2, 11.55 a.m. RUGBY, Oct. 1. The annual conference of the Conservative Party opened at Margate, some 1300 delegates attending. The spokesman for the Government on questions of policy was Sir Samuel Hoare, who made his opening speech on defence. lie emphasised the gravity of the international situation and the urgent and persistent need lor British rearmament. Six months ago, he said, the National Government drew a picture ot the vast armaments which nad been accumulated by all the great countries of the world. Since then the position had become substantially worse. The small countries bad been forced to embark upon larges schemes of rearmament.

Referring to the position of Germany, Sir Samuel recalled that she introduced conscription in March, 1935, and announced a peace time army establishment of 36 divisions with a strength of 550,000 men and an air force ol outstanding magnitude. Germany was spending at a rate of £800,000 ; 000 annually on military preparations. , This was a formidable enough situation, but since March Germany had extended military service to two years. France, where two years’ service was introduced last year, and where the air force was already in process of reorganisation under a Government of the Left, had decided on further expansion in military, naval and air material at a cost of £186,000,000. Sir Samuel Hoare. continued in Soviet Russia the recruiting age since March had been reduced, with the result that there had been an increase in vast numbers of effectives and great expansion of the air force. In Japan the proportion of the public Budget devoted to the army and navy had reached the striking figure of 46 per cent. Even in the United States the expenditure upon armaments was steadily rising. LESSON FOR BRITAIN. No wise and patriotic citizen could ignore those figures. No wise or patriotic citizen could shut his eyes to the lessons they had to teach. He launched no attacks upon any country in the world, but the tacts and figures stood out beyond fear of contradiction. The first lesson was the futility of one-sided disarmament. The second was the need for a greatly strengthened British Empire as a stabilising force on the side of peace. The supposed weakness of the British Empire had been proved by bitter experience to be a disturbing factor in the field of international politics. Faced with this situation we had no alternative but to carry through with the least possible delay our programme of rearmament. Much of this programme was absolute and not relative. It was intended to safeguard the British Commonwealth of Nations. The building of the Fleet and the expansion of the Air Force were absolutely essential, and the reequipment and strengthening of the Army was no less necessary for the duties it had to perform. We could on no account agree to any disarmament proposals that would stereotype our relative weakness. Our programme was and must be flexible, not rigid; dynamic, not static. MANDATES ISSUES. Sir Samuel Hoare recalled the statements of the Prime Minister (Mr Baldwin) and the Foreign Secretary (Mr Eden) regarding mandates, and went on to say that the Government was as fully sure as anyone of the difficulties and objections to the transfer of mandates. It stood by Mr Eden’s statement that the transfer of any mandated territory would inevitably raise grave difficulties. The Government hoped, with so many international problems still unsolved, that there would in no quarters be any desire to introduce further causes of serious difficulties between the nations. MANDATES QUESTION. CONFERENCE RESOLUTION. Received October 2, 12.50 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 1. The Conservative Conference at Margate enthusiastically adopted a resolution urging the Government to reaffirm Sir John Simon’s earlier intimation to Germany that the mandates question could not be discussed.