BACK TO DISARMAMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22540, 3 October 1936, Page 12

BACK TO DISARMAMENT

- Side by side with Sir Samuel | Hoare's impressive putting of the : case for British rearmament is the ! action of the Bureau of the League | Assembly in deciding to revive the I effort to get disarmament seriously j considered. The facts and figures i given in Sir Samuel's speech may j seem to indicate the uselessness of j trying to persuade nations to limit! armaments; so many of them, most conspicuously the loading Powers of 1 the world, have already committed j themselves to the rivalry of preparedness for war, that it may seem (|iiile inopportune, if not positively foolish, to promote means of inter- j national discussion on ways of reducing this preparation. In reality, however, the summary presented by Sir Samuel, while it emphasises the need, for British rearmament, also provides an incontestable argument for attempting to reopen the road to disarmament. The practical paradox vanishes when attention is paid to the first lesson he draws from the facts —the futility of one-sided disarmament. Britain has tried that way, and found it worthless and dangerous. It ought not to bo tried again. Reasons impressed by experience have made the most peaceloving statesmen in Britain determined, in the interests of peace itself, to tread that road no more. But there was never a time in which the duty of promoting multilateral agreement to limit arms had a clearer imperative. What is required is some move toward international review of the position. The Disarmament Conference broke down because, above all other difficulties, the one created by Germany's obstruction was insuperable. A Germany rearmed should not again make a cardinal grievance of inequality. It is true that other diffi- ! culties have arisen. Yet an arrange- I ment to renew a general exchange of opinions on the problem might ease the situation. It is worth trying as almost the only promising way of getting the Powers in the League and <jut of it on common ground*