PACT POSSIBILITIES

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1935, Page 5

PACT POSSIBILITIES

LIMITING AIR STRENGTH PROGRESS IN THE PROJECT / .A : ——- ATTENTION OF STATESMEN / MAIN POWERS’ SCHEMES ■ ■ . British Wireless. Rugby, May 31. Much of to-day’s debate on national defence raised in the House of Commons by the Liberal Party was concerned with the possibilities of negotiating a Western air pact, and Sir John Simon, Foreign Secretary, stated that progress was being made with the project. Proposals had been received in a preliminary and tentative form from the German Government, and the French and Italian Governments had also put forward ideas on the subject. The British Government believed that the proposed air pact would necessitate an agreement regarding air strength and an understanding upon the levels of air ; strength. An effort should also be made in the pact to arrive at some agreement for outlawry of indiscriminate bombing. It was ardently hoped that these would result speedily in agreed limitation ,c£ air strength,'and th- British Government would do its utmost to attain such a result . . Meanwhile the British Government would not be justified in suspending the ; recently announced measures for increasing the air defences, but no one could suggest that these measures were in any way inimical to peace or would do the smallest injury to the negotiation of an air agreement On the contrary he maintained that the measures taken would add to the prospects of reaching such an agreement. / • Sir John Simon said that with MPierre Laval's authority he could state ,?■ that the air pact was engaging the earnest attention of all statesmen of the countries concerned. He hoped that they would soon find themselves in a situa- / tion when the suggestions made could usefully be exchanged by the most appropriate method. A great step would \ then have been taken if the subject could be pursued to a point of negotiation without prejudice as to whether or. not a more general settlement would be needed. ■ . GENERAL APPROVAL.

Sir . John Simon’s statement received general approval from the speakers who followed, and Mr. R. A. Eden, in winding up the debate, .said it was the intention of the. British Government to make the most of the contributions in Herr Hitlers speech and see whether, building on that basis, it could, with others who shared the same anxiety and determination, eventually effect th© sadly needed improvement in European affairs. Sir Herbert Samuel, introducing the air debate, said he regretted the discussion synchronised with the fall of the French Government, whose attitude towards limitation of air armaments was most ■ ■lmportant There was no insincerity, while supporting a collective system, in realising that the nation must care for , its own defence. Conquest of the air introduced a new element for which history offered no guide. H another conflict ensued, swift seaplane- attacking merchantmen might be a more serious menace than submarines during the last war. The Liberals reluctantly recognised' that the Government must increase air armaments, though every attempt should be made to limit them. Sir Stafford Cripps (Labour) said he ■hoped the Government would not hesitate to take the initiative in calling an •:/ ■ international conference, first to seek a standstill agreement and, if that failed, to hold up the vast capital expenditure on the air force for a specified time instead of establishing an enormous force > which might have to be scrapped. ■■ U-, ■ 7 •_ IDENTICAL VIEWPOINTS MUSSOLINI AND GERMANT ■ i ' ;'V ' ; ; ' Rome, May 31. . -The Government has received a German Note circulated to all the Locarno Powers declaring that the Franco-Soviet pact is inconsistent with Locarno, as it is akin to a military alliance and therefore cannot be included in Germany s . Stresa offer te accept an Eastern pact < 4 with bilateral agreements. . . J J ■; The Government is of the opinion that the German, viewpoint is identical with Signor Mussolini’s wMn he .declared. ( that the Franco-Soviet and CzechoSoviet pacts upset Europe’s equilibrium. . . ...