WORLD PEACE AID

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19135, 2 October 1936, Page 6

WORLD PEACE AID

EMPIRE STRENGTH NEED FOR REARMAMENT PERIL OP WEAKNESS BITTER LESSON GIVEN VIEWS OF SIR S. i I (JAKE (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 1.1.1 p.m. RUGBY, OcL 1. The annual conference of the Conservative Parly opened al Margate today, some 1300 delegates alt ending. The spokesman for the Government on questions of policy was the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Samuel Hoarc, who made the opening speech on defence. He emphasised the gravity of the international situation, and the urgent and persistent need for British rearmament. Six months ago, he said, the National 'Government drew a picture of the vast armaments which had been accumulated by all of the great countries of the world. Since tlren the position had become substantially worse, and small countries had been forced to embark upon large schemes of rearmament. Referring to the position in Germany, he recalled that that nation had reintroduced conscription in March of ]{)3's, and had announced that her peace-time army would be an establishment of :i(i divisions with a strength of 530,000 men. and an air force of outstanding magnitude. Germany wa.s spending at a rate that had been given as £800,000,000 annually on military preparations. SERVICE EXTENDED This was a formidable enough situation, but since March Germany had extended the period of military service lo two years. Prance, where ilie system of two years of service had been introduced last year, and where the air force was already in the process of reorganisation under the Government of the Left, had decided on further expansion in military, naval and air material at a cost of £18(5,000,000. In Soviet Russia, the recruiting age since March had been reduced, will) the result that there had been an increase iu the vast: numbers of effectives. A great expansion of the air force had also been arranged. In Japan, the proportion of the public Budget devoted to the army and navy reached the striking figure of 40 per cent. Even in the United Slates of America, the expenditure upon armaments was steadily rising. A'o wise and patriotic citizen could ignore those figures. No wise or patriotic, citizen could shut his eyes to the lessons they had to teach. He launched no attacks upon any country in the world, but the, facts and figures stood out beyond fear of contradiction. DISTURBING FACTOR The first lesson was the futility of one-sided disarmament; the second was the need for a greatly-strengthen-ed British Empire as a stabilising force on I lie side of peace. The supposed weakness of the British Empire had been proved by bitter experience to be a disturbing factor in the field of international politics. "Paced with this situation, wo had no alternative but to carry through, with the least possible delay, our programme of rearmament," continued Sir Samuel. "Much of this programme is absolute and is not relative. !l is intended to safeguard the British commonwealth of nations.

"The building up of the ileel and the expansion of the air force is an absolute essential, and the re-equip-ment and strengthening of the army is no less necessary for the duties it has to perform. We can on no account agree to any disarmament proposals thai would stereotype our relative weakness. Our programme is, and must be, flexible and not rigid, dynamic and not static." MANDATES PROBLEM

Sir Samuel recalled the statements of the Prime Minister, Mr. Stanley Baldwin, and the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Anthony Eden, regarding mandates, and went on to say that the Government was as fully sure as anyone of the difficulties and objections to the transfer of mandates. The Government stood by Mr. Eden's statement that the transfer of any mandated territory would inevitably raise grave difficulties.

The Government hoped that, with so many international problems still unsolved, there would not in any quarters be any desire to introduce further causes of serious difficulties between the nations.

'The conference enthusiastically adopted a resolution urging tho Government to .reaffirm Sir John Simon's earlier intimation to Germany- that the mandates question could not be discussed.