VANISHED HOPES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18236, 3 November 1933, Page 3

VANISHED HOPES

REDUCED ARMAMENTS PLANS FOR THE FORCES LONDON. October 21 tf is believed that the British Cabinet has definitely decided that there can be no reduction of armaments and no disarmament convention, though it cannot yet see how tho .Disarmament Conference is to be ended. Sumo Ministers would like an indefinite adjournment; others favor a paper convention, which, on its inevitable rejection by Germany, could then be scrapped. All hope of any effectual agreement to disarm seems to. have vanished. Meanwhile, tho Admiralty and the army and air services are actively preparing estimates for submission to tho Treasury, and it can he taken for granted that each will present the Chancellor of the Exchequer with increased demands. The Admiralty, for example, is not only pressing that it shall be allowed to build up to full strength under the London Naval Treaty, but for a heavy replacement programme. On tho assumption that the naval holiday will end in December, 1936, the Admiralty is planning the construction of at least 25 new cruisers of the most formidable type, and it also proposes, according to reliable statements, to build capital ships of about 25,000 tons and heavily armored, at a cost of about £5,500,000 each.

It is not intended that Britain shall be hohind-hand in the event of the tteaty not being renewed. Public uneasiness at tho nation’s relatively deficient naval strength is becoming increasingly manifest, and was made vocal in a dramatic fashifm by Earl Beatty only this week. It is expected that the budget will make provision for an incease in naval personnel and useful additions to cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and naval aircraft, each class being at present much below tho tonnage allowed by the treaty. By the end of 1936, it is expected, the navy will have 50 modem cruisers, with plans for an additional 20 ready for immediate construction. As a result of the recent combined naval and air manoeuvres, the air force is agitating for considerable reinforcement. The Air Ministry takes the view that air bombing! has been demonstrated to be more effective against surface craft than was foreseen, and that fighting planes are more than ever to be considered an essential arm of national defence. To some extent tins claim has not been admitted by the Admiralty, which naturally is more inclined to press its own requirements. It is not improbable that there will be a special meeting of the committee on Imperial defence in the near future to settle the question of principle, so that the Chancellor of the Exchequer can give due weight to the demands of the respective services. Whether this meeting takes place or not, the question of strengthening the air force will be debated in the House of Lords as soon as possible after Parliament is called together next month. The Duke of Sutherland, president of the Air League of the British Empire, has given notice of bis intention to ask the Government tho present position, of Britain’s air power; its relative strength compared witli ofber European Powers; and whether the Government proposes to increase air strength in view of the existing international situation.

Many leading public men and air experts consider that the moment has coino for England to assumo supremacy in the air by building a super air fleet of 2500 additional machines. Though there is little prospoct of tho Government considering an ambitious schome on these linos, there is every probability that it will yield to pressure and do something.