ISOLATION IDEA REJECTED

Southland Times, Issue 23140, 5 March 1937, Page 7

ISOLATION IDEA REJECTED

BRITAIN’S POLICY IN EUROPE REARMAMENT FOR POWER IN DIPLOMACY (British Official Wireless.) (Received March 4, 5.5 p.m.) RUGBY, March 3. Britain can neither be isolated nor isolate herself if she wishes to do so. This was emphasized by the Lord Privy Seal (Viscount Halifax), in his reply for the Government in the debate on foreign affairs in the House of Lords. Lord Halifax said that they had been warned in speeches delivered about the dangers of isolation. “The future is always necessarily uncertain,” continued the T ord Privy Seal, “but so far as it can be defined I suggest that the policy of the Government is crystal clear. .1 share the anxiety of those who have spoken about the possibility of an Eastern entanglement, and I am not oblivious to the greater danger to Western Europe as the result of possible complications in the East linked by the Franco-Soviet Pact. “If we are unable to define beforehand what might be our attitude to hypothetical complications in Central or Eastern Europe that is not to say we disinterest ourselves in the fate of those parts of Europe. We have repeatedly maintained an attitude to carry out our obligations under the Covenant of the League of Nations. If these obligations are not capable of precise definition that is the defeat of the Covenant itself. Despite the weakening of the League, that does not. mean that this country is without influence or authority which will always be used to prevent any conflict arising. “It has been said that the Government embarked on rearmament because it can see .war coming; we have no such gloomy anticipation. I do not believe that it can be challenged that the stronger this country is the less likelihood there will be of war. Those armaments are not for selfish or aggressive use but in order that this country may pull its full weight in the councils of Europe. “We will welcome any agreement anywhere which will promote peace. All our efforts—diplomatic, military and industrial—will be subordinated to one single aim: the building up of peace on foundations of justice, which alone can support the structure under which all nations can be at peace.”

‘‘Armaments in peace time are, at bottom, a contest in economic strength. In that field, Germany, Italy and Japan all know where they stand and where we stand,’* said The Spectator recently. It claims that the figure of £1,500,000,000 which Britain is prepared to spend on arming in the next five years is an advertisement of British strength. The Journal says that if the question is asked, as is already asked on the Continent, against whom Britain is arming, the answer is simple. Britain is arming against any aggressor, and not necessarily only against an aggressor, attacking Britain directly, because the strongest potential aggressor would become so menacingly strong that Britain would be trader a moral compulsion to join other peace-loving States. FIRST LOAN TO BE ISSUED SHORTLY (Received March 5, 12.20 p.m.) LONDON, March 4. According to The Daily Mail, the first defence loan will be issued shortly. It will amount to £100,000,000. RIBBENTROP OUT OF FAVOUR