NATIONAL PRAYERS

Southland Times, Issue 21579, 17 December 1931, Page 7

NATIONAL PRAYERS

EWORLD DISARMAMENT

SERVICE IN ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL

HUGE COST OF ARMAMENTS

(British Official Wireless.)

(Rec. 5.5 p.m.) Rugby, December 15. A large congregation, including representatives in London of all the European countries, the Prime Minister, Mr MacDonald, and his Cabinet colleagues and representatives of all branches of public life, commerce and industry, attended the national service of prayer for world disarmament in St. Paul’s Cathedral.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Cosmo Lang, who presided, said the civilized world was approaching one of the turning points in its history, and he described next February’s Disarmament Conference as the most momentous assembly since the Peace Conference. The late war had shown that great armaments could only lead to war, yet the world was spending on them no less than £2,000,000 daily. Britain had already made more substantial reductions in armaments than any other country, and many thought she had reached the lowest point consistent with her safety and obligations. This very fact created a difficulty which her representatives at Geneva would have to face. It might not be possible for them to accept some general reduction by a fixed common percentage, but within the classes of armaments there were possibilities of a reduction. Britain’s representatives must be asked to strain every nerve to bring about at least a true and honest beginning in general disarmament. Sixtyone nations bound themselves by the Pact of Paris to renounce war as an instrument of national policy. Were not their solemn pledges enough to banish the fear of which armaments were a symptom? They were a symptom also of selfish nationalism, which was the ultimate cause of the world economic depression. The only hope of rescuing civilization from its present plight was to make unity of the whole body of nations a ruling principle of international life.