INCREASE IN NAVAL ESTIMATES

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21417, 8 March 1935, Page 11

INCREASE IN NAVAL ESTIMATES

! NORMAL PROGRESS WITH CONSTRUCTION ri.ANMMi FOR I'EACE ' !.::it:s;i oifiw.u. u-ikki.sss.j RUGBY, March 6. The Navy estimates for 1935 exceed the net total in 1934 by i U3.500.0U0. the total being j L 60.05U.000. Provision is made for an increase of 2000 in the fleet's I personnel. In a statement accompanying the estimates the first Lord I of the Admiralty (Sir Bolton Eyres- 1 jMonsell) says of this increase j £246.196 is required to make normal j progress with new construction. I There is - rise of £166,200 in the ; non-ell'ectivc votes, with an auto- | malic increase of £535,000 in expenditure on the Fleet Air Arm. | ! The new construction programme j ! for 1935 is: Three cruisers of the I Southampton (formerly Minotaur) i ! type, one flotilla leader and eight ' i destroyers, three submarines, one j j submarine depot ship, four sloops j j (three minesweepers and one con- : ' voy sloop), one surveying ship and ; ! seven small vessels. | i The building of new cruisers, de- ; I stroyers and submarines continues ] i to be governed by the London Naval ; | Treaty until the end of 1936. \ ; The total increase in the estimates; ! for the three British defence ser- i j vices approximates £10,000,000. ; i As explained in the White Paper j and in the notes accompanying the; j separate estimates, most of this ! j money is required for modernisation i lof the services in view of the i j economies made in recent years, j j largely with the desire of aiding i I rather than embarrassing the efforts | ! toward an international peace agree-j j ment. ! ! Only in the case of the air is any j enlargement of the force conternI plated, and Great Britain, which had | the largest air force in the world at [the end of the war, now ranks only ! fifth or sixth in point of size. t 1 | POSITION OF MR j HENDERSON j I.AIHM R'S MOTION FOR j DEFENCE DEBATE ! I ! : ( Received March 7. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, March 6. ; Mr Arthur Henderson attended aj ' meeting of the Labour party, which i , : passed a resolution expressing the j • opinion that the new defence Whitej Paper gravely prejudiced the sue-j i cess of the Disarmament Confer-| ■ ence. ! An official report, in referring to I the suggestion that Mr Henderson ! is likely to resign the chairmanship of the conference, expresses the opinion that this is purely a matter for Mr Henderson's own decision. \ The Labour Party's motion, which Major C. R. Attlee will move in the defence debate in the House of Commons on March 11, contends that the Government's policy is completely at variance with the spirit in which the League of Nations was created to establish collective world peace, and jeopardises the prospect of any disarmament convention. Instead of ensuring notional safety, it will lead to international competition, and engender insecurity, which will ultimately lead to war.