FOR THE NEXT WAR

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11705, 18 December 1923, Page 8

FOR THE NEXT WAR

PREPARATIONS IN BRITAIN MILLIONS OF GAS MASKS MANUFACTURED. CLERGYMAN ’ S STATEMENT. By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright. Australia!! and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, December 16. Dr. Norwood, pastor of the City Temple, declared in a sermon that Woolwich Arsenal was working overtime on the manufacture of millions of gas masks, which would be issued to every person in the danger zone or air raids if Britain were again involved in war. He declared that his information was reliable and that he made the statement with the object of showing how false was the sentimentality of all thinking and talking concerning the League of Nations. “I don’t blame the authorities who are .making these preparations for hostilities. If they come again, they will be so sudden that safeguards will be too late.” COMMAND_OF THE SEA BATTLESHIP OR SUBMARINES? INTERESTING DEBATE. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, December 16. Lord Ampthill presided at a debate at the United Service Institute as 1o whether the present type of battleship performed its function in preserving the command of the sea. Admiral Sir Mark Kerr opposed, and Viscount Ourzon defended, the retention of battleships. Admiral Kerr argued that the command cf tho sea had passed from the battleship owing to its vulnerability to attack from submarines and aircraft, said said that the new type i f capital ship must be chiefly, an aircraft carrier Lord Cur von declared that it could not he proved that battleships could be destroyed by underwater or air attacks. Anyhow, Admiral Kerr’s suggested aircraft carriers would bo even more vulnerable to such attacks than battleships. Lord Ampthill, in summing up, said he thought that the sense of the meeting was that the weightier argument favoured the retention of battleships. As this view was not challenged, no vote was taken. SINCAPOR^SGHEME HAS TT BEEN DROPPED? OPINIONS VARY. Reuter’* Telewrsm. LONDON, December 16. Tho political correspondent of “The Observer,” while describing Labour’s representations regarding the disposal of the Anglo-Persian oil shares as justifiable, declares that the Singapore scheme is quite different. It was undertaken after a full discussion by Parliament and the Imperial Conference, and therefore it cannot be dropped eldest after oon=ultiationj (wlitlii and’ at least proper intimation to the Australian and New Zealand Governments. _ The Council of the League of Nations’ Union dropped a resolution against incurring expenditure at present on the Singapore naval base. Professor Gilbert Murray, who presided, remarked that it was quite dear that the Singapore policy was dead.