The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1932. IS IT LOGICAL?

Southland Times, Issue 21606, 19 January 1932, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1932. IS IT LOGICAL?

“The trouble with the hands across the sea movement is that there are too many arms” remarked an American paper recently. It certainly does seem rather absurd to speak of international friendship and goodwill when nations are continuing to equip themselves with armies and navies; and the outlook for world peace will not be very bright if some satisfactory agreement to reduce armaments is not made at the Geneva conference. Quite apart from the danger to peace of large standing armies and big navies there is another* very good reason why there should be a drastic reduction in the present expenditure on armaments. Almost every country in the world is suffering severely from economic depression. Yet statistics show that, allowing for an alteration in prices, as much' money is being spent on arms to-day as before the war. There is scarcely a nation that has not found it necessary to reduce its budget. Is it then logical that huge sums should still be spent on armaments? Even if it should be contended that such an

expenditure was justified in the years immediately preceding the war, it surely has to be admitted to-day that these vast sums are a ruinous extravagance. It is not so much a matter of one nation, Great Britain for example, leading the way in the same course of reduction in armaments. It is a matter that concerns all the Great Powers, for unity of action is essential —and all are financially embarrassed. Unfortunately suspicion and distrust, while not obscuring the necessity on economic grounds of drastic reductions, prevent some of the nations from adopting the sane and logical course. They prefer bigger battleships to bigger incomes for the people, larger armies to greater happiness. It will be a memorable day for world peace and world prosperity when the statesmen of the Great Powers assembled in conference agree to disarmament on a wide scale. Not only will a vast siim of money be saved, but the increased co-operation and confidence among nations will have a positive effect in bringing about a return to the prosperous times which are so eagerly awaited.