DISARMAMENT

New Zealand Times, Volume LIV, Issue 12659, 20 January 1927, Page 6

DISARMAMENT

BRITISH POLICY DECLARED INSULAR COUNTRY HAS PECULIAR POSITION NAVY ESSENTIAL Bv Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Published in “The Times.”) GENEVA, January 18. The British attitude on disarmament is defined in an official declaration by the British Empire’s disarmament delegation. The declaration emphasises the peculiar position of an insular country with large overseas possessions and interests, and describes it as wholly different from that of a continental Power. A maritime empire maintains a navy for two primary reasons: (1) To safeguard trade routes for commerce and food; (2) to defend its own coasts and the outlying coasts of its empire. • It therefore requires a navy which is only partially affected by the size of neighbouring navies. The same principle applies to armies. Continental armies are primarily maintained to prevent aggression. A maritime empire’s' army is maintained to supply the needs of its oversea commitments. The size of its army is therefore practically independent of the size of neighbouring armies. The difference dpes not apply to the air forces maintained by the two different types of country, since the air is a medium free from the limitations necessarily limiting action by land and sea forces. It follows, therefore, that a country must possess an air force sufficiently strong to repel invasion. The consequence follows that air forces must bear a, direct relation to the air forces available ip neighbouring countries. The report concludes by declaring the three services so distinct as to warrant consideration separately, and not in combination.