DISARMAMENT

Hokitika Guardian, 16 January 1932, Page 5

DISARMAMENT

A BRITISH EXAMPLE

CLAIMED TO BE CONVINCING

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, J'au. 14. A statement that limiau wo.Jd welcome the completion of the London Naval Treaty by ail agreement bet..eon

Franco and Ita.y and herself, was ni_.de

by Captain Eden, the Undei-Stcretary for Foreign-affairs, in a speech at the

Mansion House. He added: ‘'lt is a source of regret to us that this hope has not yet been -realised and iL would be a helpful send off to the Disarmament Conference were it able to record in its early stages the eoncurr.uc e of the two largest naval powers in Europe alter ourselves in the terms of this latest limitation of naval armaments.

Captain Eden was speaking at a meeting that had been convened by the Lord Mayor of London, on behalf, of the League of Nations Union, and which was attended by civic representatives from all parts of Britain, to consider the question of disarmament.

Captain Eden said that the British Delegation could approach the Disarmament Conference with a clear conscience that Britain had in all fields of armaments since the war continuously striven to gain a lead in disarmament. Britain, he said, had done so deliberately nnd because of our belief that excessive armaments are not nn assurance of world security, but a menace to it.

Ho continued; “We have urged nations to a reduction of armaments by the most effective means in our power—By example. Almost alone among the Great Powers, we have not increased our expenditure on armaments during the past five years. We have done even more than this for our reductions since the Armistice have been continuous, drastic and clear for all to see. When the obligations to our own people, when our commitments solemnly undertaken hi the eyes of the world are recalled, it will at once he perceived that we have taken risks, grave risks, that our contributions might be effective, .striking, and patiently sincere. No one will regret these risks if they bring us the fruits we seek!”

The British Army, said Captain Eden, was now little more than a police force, and was in no respect larger than its immediate imperial duties required. The Navy has been successfully reduced, first voluntary at the end of the war, and then by successive treaties; but the Air reductions have been most drastic, for at the end of the war, with an air force second to none, Britain had voluntary scrapped seven eight's of it, and to-day, despite ./London’s vulnerability to air attacks Britain ranked only fifth among the world’s air powers. He hoped the Disarmament Conference would remove that discrepancy. Britain could do no more alone, and other nations must do their share, When the Disarmament Conference ended, he trusted that they would, at least, have a method whereby armaments might be measured and checked, and that thereby, the hopes so often expressed would he translated into action. The British Government would enter the Conference in no mean spirit, and was sincerely anxious to contribute, by suggestion and action, to a real, progressive reduction because of the vast burden of international armaments, which today clogged world progress, THE REPARATIONS. LONDON EXPECTATION. LONDON, Jan. 15. The “Financial News” says:—“A feeling is steadily growing that, whatever precise course is taken at the Lausanne Conference on reparations, the reparations are finished. Not all the intransigeant obstructiveijess of France will avail to keep them alive. This feeling is strengthened, not only by the Mussolini press articles,, hut by reports that the British Cabinet is in entire agreement with the City of London, that the reparations must be ended, rather than mended. This may be facilitated by a short, instead of a long extension of the moratorium to enable the Governments to tackle it final proposal.” BRITAIN’S POSITION. A PECULIAR ONE. LONDON, Jan 14. The “Diiily Mail,” cominenlmg on Sir Water Layton’s speech, says:— “Britain would Be the hardest hit by the wiping out of the war debts burdens and a collapse would not be long delayed. We cannot bold all the troublesome babies for the universe or serve any longer its Europe’s fairy Godmother.”