PRESS CRITICISM OF CHANCELLOR

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20541, 6 October 1936, Page 7

PRESS CRITICISM OF CHANCELLOR

REARMING PLANS OF BRITAIN DISCUSSED FROM MANY ANGLES “DRUM MUFFLED AND PLANS TOO DISTANT” British Official Wireless (Received October 5. 6.30 p.m.i RUGBY, October 3. Editorial comment in the morning papers is principally directed to the speech which the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Neville Chamberlain > delivered at the Conservative Party conference. “When I consider the disturbed conditions in the world, and all the restrictions which still hamper international trade, I cannot but be astonished at the progress of our Industry,” said Mr Chamberlain. “Every month since January there has been an increase in employment at an average rate of nearly 90,000 a month. This improvement is not confined to particular areas. It covers almost every part of the country. Nearly all the important industries and even the depressed areas, the most obstinate and difficult part of the unemployment problem, are beginning to feel the effects of the revival.” Wage increases recorded in 1936 represented another £18,000,000 yearly in the pockets of the wage earners, said Mr Chamberlain. Rearmament Programme. The comment shows that the papers attach the greatest importance to the passages in the Chancellor’s speech relating to rearmament. The Chancellor told his audience the reasons, as the Minister responsible for the national finances, by which he had peached the conviction that the “state of the world rendered it essential to embark on the largest programme of expenditure on defence which the country has ever undertaken in time of peace. “When the programme is completed we shall once more have a navy adequate to protect our vital lines of communication,” he said. “We shall also have an army, trifling in numbers beside the vast conscript armies of the Continent, but equipped with the most modern weapons and mechanical devices that science can give us. We shall have an air force which in speed, range and power of the machines, and in the quality of its personnel will be second to none. I regard our air fc-ee, when fully developed, as the most formidable deterrent to war that could be devised. I support its establishment with greater conviction and enthusiasm because every one knows that it will never be used to make an unprovoked attack on any other country.” Mr Chamberlain said it was futile and dangerous to attempt to distinguish between the armaments necessary to Brita’n’s own defence and what were required for the fulfilment of her international obligations. Press Criticism. The Chancellor’s speech is not without its critics in the press. “The Dally Express”, finds Mr Chamberlain's drum somewhat muffled and his rearmament plans too distant. The “Manchester Guardian” finds <n this statement reason for despair. It states: “We are forced to believe that the Government still cannot understand even what is meant by the wisdom of collective security. They talk of defence and collective security as though they were two different things.” The “Daily Herald.” from a similar angle, says: “Once again we find private confidence in national competitive armaments regarded in some way as a guarantee of peace and security. One would think it impossible that such a belief could survive August, 1914, but there it is again as vigorous and dominant as ever, with nothing changed except that where then it was the navy which was to secure peace, it is now an air force of terrific striking power.”