PACE OF REARMAMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22878, 5 November 1937, Page 10

PACE OF REARMAMENT

An impressive financial indicator of the pace at which British rearmament is proceeding is given by Sir Thomas Inskip, Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence, in a message published this morning. He says that last financial year his department placed orders aggregating £196,000,000 and in the first six months of the current year, to September 30, a further £92,000,000. It may be presumed that most of these order? fall outside the normal service expenses, being for new construction —for naval and air fleets and army equipment. The scope of Britain's renewed effort therefore appears in its gargantuan proportions. For' 18 months past, orders have been placed at the rate of almost £200,000,000 a year. Delivery of the munitions will be spread over a considerable period, the extreme instance being that of the five new battleships included in the current year's programme. The rate at which orders are being placed docs not, therefore, throw much light on current expenditure. The latter was fully set out, however, in the Budget. It is worth recalling that the British taxpayer is being aske'd to find £198,000,000 for defence this year and that a further £80,000,000 is being borrowed. If New Zealand were making provision for defence at an equal rate per head of population, Mr. Nash would have to find £9,000,000 or six times as much as the amount, £1,500,000, set down in the estimates. The comparison suggests the extent to which the Dominion is relying on Britain to guarantee her security. "Whether that guarantee holds good in the present tangled condition of world affairs must be left to the event for proof. It is permissible to reflect, however, that Britain's vast programme has been undertaken primarily for the defence of the British Isles and, inoreovei 1 , that New Zealand is the last and loneliest outpost of the Empire.