WORLD DISARMAMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21385, 13 July 1931, Page 6

WORLD DISARMAMENT.

There can be no doubt that now ideas on the subject of war and armaments are on the march and cannot now be stayed. Swiftly and in ever increasing volume the tide is flowing strongly towards world peace and disarmament, and among the publicists and statesmen of every nation is evident a genuine desire for an international limitation of the costly armaments which must remain a burden on the people of the world until the outlawry of war has been completed. The strength that the world peace movement has attained in Great Britain may be measured by the unusual sight of the leaders of the three political parties in British polities standing side by side in support of the cause of disarmament at a colossal peace demonstration in London. The fact that a great nation can put forward such a bold departure from traditional political practice on a common platform is in itself an impressive sign of the times. It is one that is bound to influence favourably that general evolution towards the manifestation of world unity and goodwill which has been progressing before our eyes, though with varying fortunes, since the Peace Conference at Versailles. Deep though the divergencies in the temperaments of the nations may be, affecting their attitude towards this vital problem, the continual prosecution of vigorous propaganda cannot fail to have the effect of encouraging the hope and the belief that the time is coming when “ nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they leam war any more.” The spectacle of Mr Ramsay MacDonald, Mr Stanley Baldwin, and Mr Lloyd George at the Albert Hall, in an atmosphere freed entirely from the party and political differences that ordinarily separate them one from the other, urging, with the unanimous assent of an assemblage of ten thousand people, a reduction of military, naval, and air forces and welcoming further disarmament negotiations, will be welcomed by the rank and file of other countries whose inhabitants cannot be less cognisant than the British public is of the insensate extravagance entailed by the maintenance of unnecessary armaments. It is not surprising to find such singleness of purpose as was displayed at the Albert Hall among the people of a nation which is contributing no less a sum than £2OO per minute towards the total of £2,000,000 that represents the world’s daily expenditure on armaments. Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, himself one of the speakers at the peace demonstration, gives some idea in a recent article in the Rotary Wheel of the astounding sums of money absorbed by preparations for war throughout the world. “ It is calculated,” he says, “that the world is spending £900,000,000 a year on preparations for war, and of this sum £500,000,000 comes from Europe.” These amounts, he is careful to explain, do not include either the far greater sums spent annually on interest upon national debts, practically all of which were incurred as the result of war, or the large sums devoted every year to the payment of pensions for war service. The relief that would be afforded the national purses of the countries of the world by a substantial reduction in such wasteful and unproductive expenditure can readily be imagined. Following this line of thought to its logical end, Viscount Cecil asks, “ Why should we not in every country see to it that every Government attending the Disarmament Conference in February next shall go to it pledged to insist on an all-round reduction of 25 per

cent, in the world expenditure on armaments ? ” Such a goal should not be unattainable, and in the light of the latest demonstration of popular opinion in Great Britain, there should be no doubt in the minds of delegates from other countries concerning the views the British representatives may be expected to express.