TO AVERT WAR.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 31, 20 February 1937, Page 4

TO AVERT WAR.

by something substantially more thau a two to oJie majority of a fairly full attendance the House of Commons has passed the resolution confxrniing the Lxchequer Chancellor 's scheme for financing Great Britain's rearmament programnie as set out in the "White Paper issued by hxs Government. 'Ihe vote, xio doubt, pretty closeily reflects the feeling of the full body of electors, for there is probably still among them an appreciable elexneiit bent on pursuing an ultrapacifist polidy. * On the othei' hand, there would piobably also be included axnong the" "Noes" not a few who, while approving the xnove for rearmament, disapproved on economist grounds, of the proposal to finance it partly out of borrowed money. The criticism advanced by tlie Labour Opposition was not only singularly weak but in some respeets self-contradic-tory. In this connection it may be reealled tha,t it was under a Labour Administration that the slip back in maintaining the country '& and the Empire's means of defence began. It was also Mr. Arthur Henderson who, as a Minister first in the Labour g'overnment and afterwards in the Coalition, played so big a part in the Geneva discussions on disarmament and protracted them long after hope of practicai results had vanished. Then it was with the Labour Party's full coneurrence that the National Government clung to the purpose of establishing the authority of the League of Nations as a peaee-preserver. It is onily when this has failed so signally to .fulfil that purpose that recourse has been taken to British rearmament with a like object in view. That to achieve that object the measures must be of sufficient magnitude to be fully impressive needs no stressing. Though both Germany and Italy were subseribers to the Kellogg Pact renouncing war as an instrument of national policy, both Hitler and Mussolini have openly declared for it as such, whiile the latter has without any real hindrance and quite successfully put it into practice. It may allso be reealled that it was Philip Snowden, a British Labour leader with a broader and longer outlook than most on foreign affairs, who said that it was "just as useful to argue with a hungry tiger as with Mussolini." His words have proved only too true, and doubtless he would to-day have coupled the German with the Itallian dic tator. It is with these two that the danger of war lies, and the only way to convert them to a more pacific policy is to be ready, if need be, to meet foxyje with force. With them, in their present mood, that is manifestly the only convincing argument, and the stronger Great Britain makes herself in this respect the better the hope of averting war. It is from this point of view, as much as from the need for defence of the Empire, that Britain's resolve on rearmament may be fully justified. It must not be forgotten that, greatly as a result of her negleeting her fighting power while other and aggressive nations were arming to the teeth, Great Britain's influence in Continental couneils has waned to a. very dangerous degree. It is a long-resident Geneva correspondent of an English review who tells us that there, where accredited representatives of so many nations meet, the esteem in which Great Britain is lield has falilen very low indeed. This is the case even among those from entirely friendly countries, while others speak of her almost with contempt. On almosb every hand, he Writes, the early break-up of the British Empire is foreshadowed, and even King Edward's abdication is instanced as an ominous symptom. These are aspects of the present situatlon that we of the dominions cannot disregard, for there are tnany envious eyes bent upon Great Britain's oversea possessions. Mr. Chamberlain in outlitting his Goverximent's defence expenditure waS pairticttlarly dai'efuil to emphasise that no contribution had been asked from the self-governing dominions. That, he said, was a matter for themselves to decide. In response to this it is for them to realise that their emphatic backing is just as much needed xiow to hftlp in averting a war as it was in 191 4 to help in winning one.