MENACING FORCE

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 149, 22 February 1939, Page 4

MENACING FORCE

GERMANY’S EMERGENCE * I ’ AIR. EDEN URGES "HASTE • .. V LONDON, Jan. I.—“ Even ii ve avoid the salamity of a general war, we are likely to endure further Shocks*/ said the former Foreign Secretary, Air. Anthony Eden, in a speech in London. He emphasised that the dominating factor to-day was the new balance of forces in Europe, due to tlie emergence of German y. “We now live,” he declared, ‘’under conditions in which three powerful States have accepted tlie doctrine of force as the inspiration of national policy, and in which England, France, and even the United States are compelled to build-up huge . armaments for the defence of their liberties. “We, in this anarchic; state, are forced to live dangerously * under- the constant threat of. war, with no feel- » ing of assurance that- the catastrophe will be avoided. No Quick Remedy. “It is idle to imagine that any quick remedy can be found. No foreign policy' however well conceived, can this problem in the next year or two, *or save us Horn immense efforts.” Air. Eden devoted the remainder of “his speech to an eloquent plea for intense and rapid rearmament. He described partial rearmament as dangerous, because it was provocative without being effective. “Britain’s object,” he added, ‘remains the defence of international peace, to the achievement of which we are prepared to make a contribution, subject to contributions being made by other States.” The Berlin correspondent of the Daily Telegraph expresses the opinion that the German Army consists of 51 divisions, making a peace-time strength of about 850,000 men, each standing division being hacked by a reservist division.

Thus, in the event of war, Germany would be able to throw 1,700,000 men into the field.