GERMANY’S AIR PACT.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 June 1935, Page 6

GERMANY’S AIR PACT.

If if'is true that Germany has submitted a- draft Air .Pact to Great Britain and other great Powers it should be evidence that Herr Hitler is sincere in his declaration that Germany desires peace as earnestly as her. neighbours. It is stated that the German proposals include a reduction of her Ah' Force to any limit agreed to also by other Great Powers, and assuming there are no reservations to vitiate it such a suggestion gives an opportunity for practical and effective international co-operation. To be effective the German plan must carry with it the right of inspection of each Power’s equipment by an international authority. If that is agreed to by all there can be no question of any nation’s honour being questioned Of its dignity lowered. Confidence in “pacts of peace” has suffered too many severe jolts in the past few years for it to be sustained with \ alone. Germany herself has provided evidence of the rapidity with which an Air Force can b< equipped and manned during a period when there appeared to be little, if any, increase in aeroplane construction save for the poses of civil aviation. But whether the terms of Herr Hitler’s proposals are entirely satisfactory or not is Scarcely so important as the fact that he has made them. It is the first definite gesture towards international cO-Operation the Nazi Chancellor has made since he announced Germany’s intention to rearm. As such it will no doubt receive the most sympathetic examination at Westminster, but in the light of past experience it is unlikely that Britain’s Air Force extension programme will be jettisoned or seriously reduced. It will be interesting to note the reactions of France, Italy and Russia to the latest proposal from Berlin.