EUROPEAN UNREST

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18528, 15 October 1934, Page 7

EUROPEAN UNREST

CONCERN IN BRITAIN INCREASE IN DEFENCES PROTECTION ESS ENT IA L (British Official Wireless.) Rec. noon. RUGBY, Get, 14. Mr. Neville Chamberlain, speaking at Birmingham, said that during the last few months, events on the Continent had made many people very uneasy about affairs in foreign countries. That feeling found expression in the recent Conservative Party conference at Bristol, when it assured the Government full support in any expenditure necessary to ensure the safety of the country. No one in the world believed that tho British Government, or the country, would willingly do anything that would lead to war. Their whole interest lay in the opposite direction. All the efforts of the. Government had been directed to trying to remove causes of war, but would they not incur a terrible responsibility if, some day, through neglect, the country found itself unable to protect, itself against a hostile attack. The Government had given long and anxious consideration to the problem, and reached the conclusion that in a world where no one had disarmed, where others wore'.-continually increasing armaments, a programme must, flow be -embarked upon, Which would- mean.' a Very considerable' increase in the’number of air squadrons available for home defence, and would involve making good some of the deficiencies which had been allowed to accumulate iri some of the other forces.

Ho added that they would-not, however, relax their efforts ro prevent general building up of the level in armaments.