BRITAIN’S DEFENCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 82, 5 March 1938, Page 8

BRITAIN’S DEFENCE.

The "White Paper published on the progress of rearmament in Britain must convince foreign Powers that from a seriously disarmed nation —effected in the hope that disarmament would become an ideal to be practised for the betterment of the world—the Empire is progressing to the point when it will again be powerful in the essential arms of defence. The colossal sum of 1,500 million pounds is being spent in the period from 193/ to 1941, part from revenue and part from the Defence Loans Act, and the peak of this expenditure will be reached in the next financial year. According to the Secretary for Air rearmament in his department will be substantially completed this year, and the progress he has reported is the story of a great endeavour to provide what may very well prove to be the most important defence arm for the United Kingdom. Though the Navy was weakened to a tremendous extent by the breajking up of ships under the disarmament plan, everything is being done to repair the breach in the first line of defence, and the addition of sixty ships in the next twelve months, with the laying down of two capital ships and four large cruisers, gives added security at a most difficult time. The Army, too, is now greatly strengthened and modernised. Rearmament in Britain was wholly unavoidable; but the immensity of the programme and the quick manner in which it has been implemented have proved a stabilising influence in the international situation.