Defence Preparations Each week new evidence appears of the progress
made in our preparations for defence. A fortnight ago Sir Thomas Inskip, the Defence Minister, said that the first .preliminary stages were already past. Last week Supplementary Esti- mates of £20,000,000 for the defence services were issued ; £850,000 is to be spent on providing gas masks for the entire civil population. And on Tuesday Mr. Duff Cooper, the Minister for War, announced the appointment of Vice-Admiral Sir Harold Brown, Engineer-in-Chief of the Fleet, as Director-General of Munitions Production. His task is to be the " co-ordination and expediting " of the manufacture of munitions, and his appointment is due to the huge increase in the demands of all three Services for munitions of every kind. It seems likely, indeed, that as the armament programme becomes even more ad- vanced a Minister of Supply may become necessary to direct its industrial side. The speed with which the programme is being realised, though gratifying, is the best proof of the gravity of the international situation. And as that speed increases, it becomes more and more necessary that the Government should decide what policy our growing armaments are intended to serve.
Previous page
