The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1928.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 November 1928, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1928.

BRITAIN AND THE WAR SPIRIT. In his address on the occasion of the tenth anniversary ot the League of Nations Union Mr Baldwin said he doubted if any people have subdued the war spirit more than the British. This is one of those reflective observations bv which Mr Baldwin frequently gives people cause to think. He is a man. says the Otago Times, of shrewd judgments, and we need not doubt that lie correctly interprets the feeling of his countrymen in relation to the arbitrament of war. There are those, of course, in the British Commonwealth who seem to think that because progress in tbe direction of international disarmament is slow Great Britain is somehow to blame —that she ought to

sot an example in greatly reducing her defence forces regardless of what other Powers may be doing. These critics grumble at the expenditure on nu\t:onnl defence, and generally they seem to suggest that Great Britain cannot really bo sincere in condemning war as an instrument of national policy, and in desiring to live at jicacc with all nations, so long as she spends so many millions annually on her air force, her army, and her navy. But mere is another side to the picture mid it is an impressive one, bearing out Air Baldwin’s expressed belief respecting tbe attitude of the British people. In what Great Britain has actually done we find a clear reflection of her sincerity in a desire to see the burden of armaments alleviated, the risk of conflict minimised, and the spirit subjugated which sets nations at war with one another. Air Churchill summarised effectively a lew days ago Britain’s post-war record, lie pointed out that she had gone hack to a tiny army ; scarcely more than a glorified police force; that she was content with an air force which was perhaps only half as strong as that of her nearest neighbour; and that she had given up that supremacy upon the sea which for centuries has been tbe foundation of ber might. All this has been no mean concession to the feeling that war is in tolerable, and that preparation against its possibility imposes burdens that ought to lie reduced as much as possible. Tn championing the League of Nations Great Britain lias been ever in the forefront. She has subscribed cheerfully to the Kellogg Peace Pact, and she has done everything in her power to facilitate the task of the Preparatory Commission for the League Conference on Disarmament. Her much discussed and misunderstood agreement with France represented an earnest endeavour on her part to break down the international deadlock over the question of the limitation of naval armaments. The requirements of Empire security Great Britain is bound to consider carefully; hut her attitude is none the less that of a peace-loving and peace promoting nation. She may recognise the need of aircraft or of a new cruiser on occasion, hut in her outlook the war spirit has no place.