NELSON EVENING MAIL WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 14. 1934 BRITAIN’S ANXIETIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 14 November 1934, Page 4

NELSON EVENING MAIL WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 14. 1934 BRITAIN’S ANXIETIES

AIR RAAISAY AIACDONALD'S speech, delivered at the Lord Alayor of London s banquet last week, was evidently made for the purpose of assuring the British nation that, in spite of the decision to expand the Royal Air Force for tho purposes of defence, the British Government’s policy is profoundly peaceful. After saying, “We purposely risked showing the world an example in disarmament, lie added: Wo recently investigated the resources of home and Imperial defence, and the experience proved in the world’s present state that disarmament by example was an inflective way of strengthening peace, and might in some circumstances tempt an aggressor to attack. I believe the country will trust us to do what is necessary without embarking on an arms

race. That statement seems so clear that it would he thought it could not be misunderstood, and yet three days later another member of the British Government (Mr Anthony Eden) found it necessary to say that: He did not believe in the menace of war. but no man could deny the difficulties and dangers of the present time. . . . Britain’s arrangements must be directly related to those of other countries, and she could never be indifferent to the policies which were being pursued by other nations, whether in Europe, or elsewhere. Only those who are badly informed, or are not quite sane, would imagine for a moment that the British Government and nation are otherwise than desirous of peace. Why, then, is it necessary for the British Premier and the Lord Privy Seal to tell the nation and the world generally that the British Government is apprehensive of trouble, and is taking precautions accordingly? The answers to those questions cannot be made in a few sentences, but some of the reasons of the British Government’s recent change in its attitude in relation to disarmament may be briefly stated. In the first place, the extraordinary expansion of Germany’s air forces lias caused no small apprehension in those European countries, which, in the last war, were Germany’s foes, and to-day are within the radius of her air forces. While no one who understood the situation on the European Continent and the complex rivalries of its people really had any confidence in the Disarmament Conference, Great Britain set the other European nations an example by reducing her armaments till they were less than they were in pre-war years. Her army became merely the police force of the Empire, her navy was reduced (in conformity with tlie Washington and London till it ceased to be adequate for the protection of the Empire’s component parts and the sea-ways connecting them, while in the matter of protection in the air, though the Royal Air l'orce was admittedly efficient in the highest degree, its strength was inadequate for the tasks which it might possibly be asked to perform.

Another cause of apprehension is the problem of the Saar, which contains all the combustible materials for a dangerous conflagration, and thirdly there is looming in the Far East the possibility of trouble over the preservation of the “open door” policy in Manchuria. It is true that the solution of the Saar problem rests primarily with the League of Nations, and that in accordance with the Versailles Treaty tho people of the Saar will presently be called upon to decide their own future by a declaration at the polls. There is nothing dangerous in that, but as the Nazis of Germany are apparently bent upon making the declaration certainly in favour of the Reich by continual interference in the affairs of the Saar, the result is that the Chairman of the Saar Governing Commission has written to tho League, revealing the dangerous situation existing in the territory, for whose government the Commission is responsible. There seems a distinct possibility ot Britain and Japan - arriving at an amicable agreement for the purpose of

solving outstanding problems ; but the problem of tho Saar is one which may cause an explosion at any time, because of the evident determination of Hitler’s Nazis that the inhabitants of the region shall have no option but to vote for reunion with Germany. The situation is not improved by tile fact that the management of the Saar region rests with the League, whoso processes are notoriously slow, and therefore while it is hesitating to act there may arise in the Saar a situation which may necessitate forcible interference by nations closely concerned. If that were to take place a dangerous crisis would arise, and it is probably in anticipation of such air eventuality taking place that Mr Ramsay MacDonald arid Mr Anthony Eden spoke as they did.