GERMANY’S AIR POWER

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19867, 2 August 1934, Page 9

GERMANY’S AIR POWER

QUERIES BY BRITISH MINISTER INFLUENCE ON EUROPEAN POLICY British Official Wlreleee RUGBY, July 31. A speech of considerable importance was made by Sir John Simon, Secretary of State tor Foreign Affairs, during the debate on the Government’s programme for increasing the Royal Air Force by 41 squadrons. He said he could not admit that the continuance of the Disarmament Conference should impose restrictions on Great Britain which other Powers did not observe. He had, unfortunately, never found that Great Britain’s disarmament had helped disarmament at Geneva. “No doubt it has given us a strong moral position, but a sense of rectitude is not always the best way of persuading others to repent,” Sir John added. Dealing with questions asked by Mr Winston Churchill as to whether Germany was observing her obligations in the peace treaties in regard to her military air forces, Sir John Simon said he was sorry to say that Germany’s air development was very marked and that the large sums spent under the proclaimed heading “Civil aviation" were very strange. There was a double purpose to which many air machines might be put. There were no treaty limitations on the development of German civil aviation, and a special difficulty arose when estimating the possible co-operation of Germany’s aeroplanes to operate in connection with bombing'. Germany probably had the most highly-developed air service in Europe, explained Sir John Simon, and he apprehended that commercial machines of sufficient size and with the quality of high speed were able to lift bombs just as they were able to lift passengers and luggage, which fact must be considered in estimating the air power of any country. The Government could not disclose all the information it had, but he might say that it had formed its proposals after full consideration of the estimates from all available quarters. The purpose of those proposals was to secure, among other things, that at no moment would Great Britain fail to have a military air force adequate to circumstances with which she might have to deal. , Sir John said the Committee of the League of Nations had not resumed its meeting, but the Government had not left its subject matter unconsidered. It was the absence of Germany that constituted the main obstacle and that was of special gravity when the question to be discussed was the possibility of effectively controlling the misuse of civil aircraft. For that Germany must be a party to the negotiations.