NO DEFENCE ARMS

Taranaki Daily News, 12 November 1934, Page 5

NO DEFENCE ARMS

WARNING TO BRITAIN NATION NOT PREPARED OTHERS ON 1914 SCALE GERMANY, FRANCE, ITALY By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, Nov. 9. Mr. Winston Churchill, in a speech reviewing world conditions, referred to the House of Commons arms debate and declared that the real inquiry ought to be made into the alarming decline of Britain’s means of making defence weapons. Should danger come, he said, Britain would be much less prepared than in 1914, whereas every other large country was prepared on a 1914 scale. Every factory in Germany, France and Italy was organised to turn over in a few hours’ notice from peace to war production, from sewing machines to machineguns, from motors to tanks, from perfumes to poison gas, from chemicals to explosives. The whole hideous process had been studied with infinite care. By pressing a button the whole of Germany could be turned to a single purpose—the production of death-dealing machinery. This was not the moment to break down the few woefully shrunken armament factories that survived the long process of British disarmament. It was absurd to suggest that armament firms had ever influenced the British foreign policy. Mr. Churchill added that Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, British Prime Minister, boasted that he had continually reduced defences, hoping that others would follow. This had proved utterly wrong. Mr. MacDonald was now realising that the vast Empire whose v-eak defences made it a prey to hungry rivals was a new factor in European instability. ■ Mr. Churchill concluded that he intended to move an amendment during the air defence address, giving the House of Commons an opportunity to face realities.