DISARMAMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 13, 16 January 1932, Page 7

DISARMAMENT

BRITISH SACRIFICE LONDON NAVAL TREATY A COMPLETION WELCOMED THE COMING CONFERENCE [ British Official Wireless. ] Received Jan. 15 8.10 p.m. RUGBY, Jan. 14. A statement that Britain would welcome the completion of the London naval treaty by an agreement between France, Italy and herself, was made by Captain Eden, Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, in a speech at Mansion House. He added: “It is a source of regret to us that the hope has not yet been realised, and it would be a helpful send off to the disarmament conference were it able to record in its early stages the concurrence of the two largest naval powers in Europe after ourselves, in the terms of this latest limitation of naval armaments.”

Captain Eden was speaking at a meeting convened by the Lord Mayor of London on behalf of the League of Nations Union, and attended by civic representatives from all parts of Britain to consider disarmament. He said that the British delegation could approach the conference with the clear conscience that Britain had, in all th'? fields of armaments, since the war continuously striven to give a lead in disarmament. “Deliberately, and because of our belief that excessive armaments are not an insurance of world security, but a menace to it, we have urged the nations to a reduction of armaments by the most effective means in our power—our example,” added Captain Eden. “Almost alone among the great powers we have not increased our expenditure on armaments during the past five years. Wc have done even more than this, for our reductions since the Armistice have been continuous and drastic, and clear for all to see. When our obligations to ov.r own people, and when our commitments solemnly undertaken in the eyes of the world are recalled, it will at once be perceived that we have taken risks, and grave risks, that our contribution might be effective, striking and patently sincere. No one will regret these risks if they bring us the fruits we seek.” The British Army, said Captain Eden, was little more than a police force, and in no respect larger than immediate Imperial duties required. The Navy had been successfully reduced, first voluntarily at the end of the war und then by successive treaties. From First to Fifth

But the air reductions had been the most drastic of all, for at the end of the war, with an air force second to none, Britain had voluntarily scrapped seven-eighths of it, and to-day, despite London’s vulnerability to air attacks Britain ranked only fifth among the world’s air powers. Ho hoped that the disarmanient conference would remevt that discrepancy

Britain could do no more alone, and other nations must do their share. When the disarmament conference ended he trusted that, they would at least have a method whereby armaments might be measured and checked, and that thereby the hopes so often expressed would be translated into action. The British Government would enter the conference hi no mean spirit, but sincerely anxious to contribute by suggestion and action to a real and progressive reduction because of the vast burden of international armaments which to-day clogs the world’s progress.