GREAT BRITAIN FACES FACTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 4 June 1938, Page 14

GREAT BRITAIN FACES FACTS

The word “ conscription ” as it enters into recent discussion in the House of Commons, has as a special sense the compulsoiv enlistment of recruits to military forces. The Socialist Opposition in the British Parliament, which has been pursuing a course directed by political opportunism in the defence debates, expressing at the same time a lack of satisfaction with the progress of the rearmament programme, and opposing the plans for its expansion, professes to be gravely concerned as to the Government’s intentions on this question. In actual fact, the Prime Minister has stated that the Government is not committed to the compulsory enrolment of able men in the event of war. Conscription may be applied to the multitudinous activities of Great Britain in making safe the country to meet an emergency, in a much wider sense. No war can be fought with soldiery alone —a twentieth century war least of all. Preparations to equip the British Isles to resist an invader entail the provision of plans for the utilisation of the resources of the community for many services besides those of the fighting arms. The Government schemes for the expansion of the Air Force, the strengthening of the navy, and the mechanisation of the army, upon which huge sums are being expended, constitute only half the story. Provision for the welfare of the civilian population now constitutes a problem without precedent in war time. Great Britain cannot hope, if war comes, to enjoy the comparative immunity from the attentions of the invader which prevailed in the Great War of 1914-18, and the protection of the non-combatant elements of the community has become an essential part of defence precautions. The Air Raid Precautions Service, which is responsible for this aspect of the defensive measures, has already been active in training the civilian in the first safety measures to be observed in the event of attack, and the use of incendiary and high explosive bombs, as Sir Samuel Hoare observed in making an appeal for further volunteers to the service, presents a menace against which intensive preliminary measures must be

taken. Nor is the great problem of feeding the country and conserving supplies neglected in the new defence schemes. During the years of the Great War the controlling of resources evolved with difficulty into an efficient system. If Great Britain is again plunged into war, the need will be met by automatic inauguration of a scientificallygrounded plan of operations. The Food (Defence Plans) Department has, with scarcely any publicity, already proceeded far towards assuring that supplies of the essential products are conserved to meet a possible emergency, and coincidently with the activities of this department the Ministry of Agriculture has made arrangements which, it is hoped, will result in promoting the production of home-grown foodstuffs. A consideration of the vast mobilisation of the resources of Great Britian to equip the country not only with defensive armaments and the means to man them, but also with sure sources of supply of essential materials, scarcely allows credence to be given to the complaints of the Government’s detractors that the United Kingdom is in a seriously vulnerable state at the present time. In 1914 that certainly was the position, but the troubled condition, of the world has provided a sufficient incentive to the British people to assure that a state of unpreparedness will not recur. Whether the inevitability of war must be accepted remains a matter of conjecture. Sir John Simon expressed the belief of the best elements of public opinion when, in a speech a few days ago, he declared his faith that war can be avoided. The British Empire undoubtedly can exercise a great influence upon the nations of the world in maintaining peaceful relations. No modern State equals our great Commonwealth of Nations in authority in international affairs. And the fact that the British Government has undertaken to guarantee that the United Kingdom will be strong in defence, prepared to match any aggressive Power if the necessity arises, must serve as a most powerful factor in keeping the peace to-day.