ARMY POLICY.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 May 1921, Page 5

ARMY POLICY.

THE ARMAMENTS RACE. LITTLE HOPE OF ECONOMY IN BRITAIN. Recently the cable news has contained a great deal in reference to various phases in the disarmament question. Writing in the Daily News some weeks ago, Major-General * Sir F. Maurice, whose name was frequently before the public as a military critic during the war, commented as follows: The debate on the Army Estimates shows that the Army Council has done its best to reduce expenditure, and that it has cut down the army to, and possibly below the bare minimum of safety., To do this it has had to gamble on there being no disturbances of any kind in any of the vast areas for the security of which the army is responsible. Whether tne gamble will be successful or not time alone can show, but the his-, tory of the past year, with its tale of small wars and supplementary estimates, does not inspire much confidence. The worst possible economy is to employ a boy to do a man’s work. If that happens either the boy breaks down or the work has to be done over again at increased cost. Paring down the means available for a given job, while leaving the job as big as ever, is bad business. Now with all the paring down we are left to face the unpleasant fact that three years after the Armistice we shall be paying at least £210,000,000 for armaments, and very probably a good deal more, while the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s allotment for a normal Budget comes to £135,000,000. We have therefore to reduce this expenditure somehow by £75,000,000.

HOW TO REDUCE EXPENDITURE. After every possible allowance has been made for non-recurring expenditure arising out of the war, we shall still have to make a big cut in the recurring charges if we are to get anywhere near this figure. This can only be done in three ways. First, by giving the Army, the Navy and the Air Force less to guard. Secondly, by co-ordinating the work of the land, sea and air arms so that each may be used for the common purpose in the most economical way. Thirdly, by helping forward by all means in our power a general reduction of armaments under the auspices of the League of Nations. As to the first of these, the Secretary of State for War pointed out a number of dangers which were exposed in India, in Ireland, on the Rhine, and in the Middle East; but except as to the last part of the world, in which our future depends on the result of Mr. Churchill's mission, he gave no indication that it was the policy of the Government to remove or reduce these dangers. The defence of the sorry expedient of charging the cost of the troops in the Middle East to the Colonial Office was very lame. The argument was that the Minister responsible for policy in the Middle East should be responsible for all the expenditure which that policy entailed.

CARDS HELD BACK. This sounds well enough, but in reality it means that a department which knows nothing about soldiers is going to be responsible for their administration, and that the true strength and cost of the Army will be concealed. Obviously the armaments of all the Great Powers, except those whose forces have been compulsorily reduced by treaty, depend to a greater or less extent on the armaments of others. Agreement as to reduction can only be reached if all the cards are put on the table. We are putting a number of our cards up our sleeves. The statement that the strength of our Regular Army will, on April 1, 1922, be 170,000 men, is merely another form of the camouflage by which part of the cost of the Army is charged to the Colonial Office. What it means is that, if all goes well, that will be the number of troops charged to the Army Estimates, but it takes no Jaaaiiah troops for which India will be paying, nor of those for which the new department oi the Middle East will be paying, nor of the Indian troops serving outside India, for whom the British taxpayer will have to pay, whoever presents the bill. It is therefore wholly illusory as a statement of cur nu.etary strength, and Would not be accepted by any Foreign i as a £asis of con varjaoat