The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1935 MR MACDONALD HITS OUT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20058, 15 March 1935, Page 8

The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1935 MR MACDONALD HITS OUT

So much has been said on the attitude of Great Britain in issuing the now famous White Paper on the defence of the Old Country and the far-flung Empire that shelters beneath her broad shield, that many of the critics have found themselves answered from unexpected quarters. Nootie who has watched the career of Mr Ramsay Macdonald, for instance, wouid by the wildest stretch of imagination accuse the Leader of the National Cabinet of being guilty of warmongering. On the contrary, it can be taken for granted that the position of Great Britain in a world that has given itself over to re arming, has become so desperate as to warrant the slashing attack Mr Ramsay Macdonald has delivered at the pacifists. “I am greatly concerned,” says the Prime Minister, “at the way in which the peace prospects of Europe are deteriorating, and at the virtual standstill of the Disarmament Conference.” In this sentence, pregnant as it is with deep significance, we have the explanation of the decision of Mr Ramsay Macdonald to place his personal signature to the White Paper. The world knows Mr Macdonald as a lover of peace and a determined opponent of anything that savours of militarism or navalism. Right through his life, the Prime Minister has viewed war through the eyes of a peaceloving Socialist; indeed, Mr Ramsay Macdonald himself has been accused of being actuated by intense pacifism. As a matter of fact, the Leader of the National Government is at heart a confirmed pacifist. But if Mr Ramsay Macdonald is determined in his opposition to armaments and is constitutionally on the side of any move designed to promote and preserve the peace of Europe, he is not blind to plain facts in relation to the international situation. But if Mr Macdonald discerns the growing menace to the safety of Britain in the inequality of the defences that have been adopted by the Homeland, because of the desire of Britain to give a lead in disarmament, or at least a substantial reduction in armaments, he is very much alive to the activities of the enemies of the country within its gates: “Pacifism in Britain is becoming an easy-going state of mind, fervidly embracing a meaningless formula of pious aspect, instead of something showing the rugged realism of objective fact. "For some time I was most impressed by the supine indiSerence of numbers of our pacifists to the trend of world armaments and the complacency with which they regarded conditions in England. Peace has become a matter of words and vain moral gestures merely inviting an aggressor to attack us. Britain has been without policy.”

It is hardly accurate to say that Britain has had no policy. Doubtless the Prime Minister intended to convey the impression that Britain has willingly gone to almost dangerous limits in an effort to lead the nations of Europe away from armaments. Other peoples, however, regardless of Britain’s lead, have ignored her splendid example, and have proceeded to make adequate provision for their defences, while Britain has gradually receded into a position of positive danger: “If our moral gestures cannot protect the world from increasing offensive armaments, we must take steps to make collective security more than words and protect our civilians against attack.

“I cannot believe that great nations are blind to the dangers they run in refusing to come to the Disarmament Conferences and to make agreements which will neither threaten their own nor any other nation’s security.”

Only the most menacing situation in Europe would have convinced Mr Ramsay Macdonald that it was his obvious duty to turn upon the pacifists and lash them with the scorpions of irresistible facts. But even in face of the gravest danger, Mr Ramsay Macdonald has not gone over to the warmongers. “We are determined to make conditions hard for aggressors,” says the Prime Minister, “and not to allow the nations who did not appreciate our efforts to assume that our peace lead meant that we had ceased to take a practicable interest in opposing the tendencies making for war.” The White Paper makes it clear that whilst peace is the policy of British statesmanship, the provisions to he made for the defence of the Home Country reminds the world that the policy of Britain is still directed towards checking the activities of likely aggressors, and so preserve the peace of Europe. THE HORSE COMES BACK One of the most interesting and significant phases of the steady return to more stable financial and economic conditions in New Zealand is the “come hack” being staged by the horse. No one can accurately estimate the economic value of the horse, particularly in relation to a sound scheme of things in the primary industry, because the horse has in the past played an interesting part in helping to bring some measure of balanced economy on the land. The splendid demand for Clydesdales at the. sale held in Timaru yesterday, therefore, may he said to reflect the steady return of rural stability. The sale of horses at good prices is in itself a most encouraging sign.