BRITAIN'S ARMS POLICY

Northern Advocate, 9 March 1936, Page 6

BRITAIN'S ARMS POLICY

USE ONLY TO RESIST AGGRESSION (Received 10 a.m.) LONDON, March 7. “Britain’s defence proposals have been received without word of fear or anxiety throughout Europe, because people will realise that our forces never will be used, except to resist aggression,” said Mr Neville Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a speech at Birmingham.

Referring to criticisms of the proposal as undefined and unspecific, Mr Chamberlain said critics thought the Government should say exactly how many men, tanks, guns, ships and aeroplanes, including the speed and range of the latter, the Government proposed. Such answers would satisfy the curiosity of many countries besides Britain. Moreover, such information was impossible with the conditions changing daily. “While we were giving attention to armaments, new inventions and discoveries so transformed the problem that we had to alter our plans repeatedly,” said the Chancellor. “Long before our present ideas are carried out, it is almost certain that new conditions will enforce further changes.

“We are determined to build up our Air Force to such terrific fighting power as to be capable of inflicting such terrible damage that anyone will think long before starting hostility. We are not expecting war and hope it may never come, but we must be prepared for all eventualities.”