MILITARY POLICY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23796, 1 May 1939, Page 9

MILITARY POLICY

BRITAIN’S NEW COURSE MOMENTOUS DECISION FULL ASSENT OF NATION (British Official Wireless) (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) RUGBY, April 28. Sir Kingsley Wood, speaking in London, said Britain, with the full assent of the whole nation, had taken a new and momentous course in its international policy and had entered upon heavy and considerable obligations and undertakings to other nations which would never otherwise have been considered or contemp'ated. “They were not lightly undertaken,” he said, “ but we do not shrink from them. They threaten no one. They have no ulterior object

but were solely made in order that peace might be kept and because there was no other course open to any great nations which believed in liberty and freedom not for themselves alone but throughout the world.” , , These new undertakings involved this country in great and increased responsibilities, he added. The Budget meant heavy burdens, but it was a price they were all willing to nay for world peace and national security. Compulsory military training was another step and an essential step to security and peace. The House of Lords approved the Government’s action without a division. CONSCRIPTION IN ULSTER MR DE VALERA’S VIEWS LONDON, Apl. 30. (Received Apl. 30, at 10 p.m.) It is believed that Mr de Valera informed Mr Chamberlain that conscription in Ulster would be regarded as an infringement of Irish sovereignty. He pointed out that nearly half those who would be conscripted there pay allegiance to Eire. A further :omplication concerns the position of men from Eire who are resident in England. THE TERRITORIAL ARMY A RUSH OF RECRUITS (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, Apl. 29. (Received Apl. 30, at 6.30 p.m.) Forty thousand territorials enlisted during the first three weeks in April, exceeding the number for the whola of 1936. Mr Anthony Eden, whose appointment as major in the Rangers is announced in the London Gazette, has offered his services to the War Office in any capacity. The Rangers is a territorial unit of his old regiment, the King’s Royal Rifles, in which he served during the war. Mr Eden had recently been at Tidworth, undergoing a refresher course. GOVERNMENT CRITICISED “PURELY IMPROVISING” LONDON, Apl. 29. (Received Apl. 30, at 11 p.m.) Mr Bevin, addressing a transport workers’ conference, said his impression after leaving the Trade Union Council’s conference with Mr Chamberlain was that the Government was not committed to and was not working ouc an organised system of collective security, but was purely improvising. Our statesmen were panicstricken. Voluntarism had not broken down. There were thousands of unequipped territorials, and Britain, if defeated, would be defeated by the incompetence of the Government and the administrators. Only 150,000 young men of the present age, allowing for rejections, would be conscripted, ha’tmg the general recruiting. Mr Chamberlain and his followers intended to make conscription permanent, adjusting the age limits as time progressed. The people must be shown the whole programme if such a fundamental change is necessary.