RIFT IN MINISTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23226, 21 December 1938, Page 13

RIFT IN MINISTRY

LONDON PRESS REPORT RESIGNATIONS DEMANDED GAPS IN THE DEFENCE Independent Cable Service LONDON, Dec. 19 Three junior Ministers are threatening to resign as a protest against tho gaps in defence, says the Evening Standard. They are demanding the resignations of Mr. Hore-Belisha, Secretary of State for War, Earl Winterton, Chancellor of the Duchy, of Lancaster, and Sir Thomas Inskip, Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence. The revolt is serious, says the. paper. Mr. R. S. Hudson, Parliamentary Secretary for Overseas Trade, the Mar-

quess of Dufferin and Ava, Colonial Tinder-Secretary, and Lord Strathcona, Under-Secretary at the War Office, demand the dismissal of the Ministers named, threatening their own resignation as the only alternative. It is understood that they contend that the Ministers named failed to take advantage of the breathing space after Munich to push ahead vigorously with rearmament.; Other junior Ministers, including Captain,H. F. C. Crookshank, Parliamentary Secretary of Mines, and the Earl of Feversham, Parliamentary Secretary of Agriculture, are understood to be in general sympathy with the rebellion, A movement has also started among back-bench Government supporters, and is likely to develop into a revolt against aspects of the Government's foreign policy. • .