BRITISH AIR MANOEUVRES

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1928, Page 8

BRITISH AIR MANOEUVRES

The somewhat hectic statements made by the Earl of Halsbury and others in regard to the defencelesenees of Great Britain from air attacks will require support from more technical authorities before they can be accepted at face value. It will be remembered that a few months ago the noble Earl tried to make the flesh of his fellow peers creep as he drew a lurid picture in tne House of Lords of the possibilities of chemical warfare of the future. What does seem plain from the recent air manoeuvres is that the only defence worth relying upon is counter-attack. There is nothing new in such a theory of defence. Nelson taught it to the Navy, and it is still the guiding principle of the senior service. At the same time, conditions have altered since Nelson’s day. Warfare has been mechanised, and no amount of courage can overcome the advantage of better equipment. So in regard to air warfare. If the sole check upon war is to be by balancing air fleet againat air fleet, it would seem that there is to be another race for armaments, and the work of the League of Nations is to stand for nothing. It ia a curious commentary upon the eve of the ceremony which is to formally pledge many nations to renounce war as a part of their national policy, that in England there should be the most startling call for more war equipment that has been made since the armistice was signed ten years ago. The horrors of chemical warfare seem almost beyond belief, but to attempt to meet them by still more terrible methods of destruction seems the negation of civilisation, and the end of the rule L w ' H the “will to peace,” of which the Kellogg pact is but an expression, is really developing between the nations, the evils of which Lord Halsbury has spoken so plainly may be averted by reason instead of by force. Possibly, indeed, the extreme difficulty of meeting force by force in the air may lead to such attempts being abandoned. By the delay in developing air fighting equipment, and in other directions, Great Britain has shown she is willing to go as far as safety will permit in the cause of universal peace. With her resources the construction of a new “fighting arm” is always possible. What is not so certain of accomplishment is the cultivation of the goodwill among the people which makes war impossible. It is towards this higher ideal that the Empire has set its steps.