BRITAIN'S SAFETY

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 91, 15 October 1934, Page 9

BRITAIN'S SAFETY

PARAMOUNT CLAIM

STRONGER AIR DEFENCES

NEEDS EMPHASISED

(British Offlciiil Wireless.) i i liccoivcj October 15, 1 p.m.) : , RUGBY, October X!. Mr. Neville Chamberlain, ClumcclloiKit' the Exchequer, speaking last night lin Birmingham, said that during the last few months the events on the Continent hud made a good many people very uneasy about affair:* in foreign countries. That feeling found expression in the recent Conservative Party conference at Bristol, when it assured the Government of its full support iv any expenditure necessary to ensure the safety of the country. No one in the world believed that the British Government or country would willingly do anything that would lead to war. Their whole interest lay in the opposite direction. All the efforts of the Government had been directed to trying to remove the causes of war, but, he asked, would they not incur a terrible responsibility if some day through neglect the country found itself unable to protect itself against hostile attack? The Government had given, long and anxious consideration to the problem and reached the conclusion that in a world where no one had disarmed and where others were continually increasing their armaments, a programme must now be embarked ! upon which would mean a very considerable increase in the number of the air squadrons available for Home dc- [ fence and would involve .making good i somo of the deficiencies which had. j been allowed to accumulate in some of I the other forces. <Ho added that they would not, however, relax their efforts to prevent a general building-up of the level in armaments.