DEFENCE OF AUSTRALIA

Wairarapa Daily Times, 27 September 1933, Page 6

DEFENCE OF AUSTRALIA

“BADLY-NEEDED LEAD.” LORD LLOYD’S COMMENTS. LONDON, Tuesday. “It is most encouraging to learn that the great defence campaign in Australia has given the Imperial Parliament a badlv-nceded lead, which 1 hope will he followed,” said Lord Lloyd, when interviewed by the Sun Agency. Lord Lloyd is president of tic Navy League. “It is one thing to giro the world an example of disarmament and another to persist in a policy of unilateral disarmament which would actually encourage other nations to seize the chance of augmenting their naval power at the expense of England. The Empire could not watch events in the Far East and the lising hegemony of Japan in those wateis without concern. The fact that America is author of the Kellogg Pact does not blind us as to their huge expansion in naval expenditure and personnel. Franco-Italian rivalry for mastery of the Mediterranean is not a matter ot mere academic interest to a Power whose vital communications run through that sea. The naval requirements of other countries are in no wise comparable to Britain’s, because the Empire’s sea communications arc vital to England, and the Dominions must again be free to build what is necessary for their own safety. It is not a question of rivalry. Let other nations build for their needs, but we must be free to do the same. We know from the considered pronouncements of Lord Beatty and Lord Jellicoe that 70 cruisers arc the bare minimum needed to defend 85,000 miles of sea route. We had 120 cruisers before the war. Our present world commitments are far larger, yet we have only 30 cruisers that are not obsolete to discharge our vast responsibilities of policing and protection.