Defence Estimates The Estimates for all the Defence services have
now been presented to the House of Commons, 'which was left uncomfortably aware of the fact that the total shows an increase of over £4,000,000. The increase of over £3,000,000 for the Navy is due to the exceptional economies of last year, when normal expenditure upon shipbuilding was retarded.- There is therefore leeway to make up. The rise of £1,462,000 in the Army Estimates is similarly explained by the replacement of services which were cut down in 1932—the chief of these being the Territorial summer camps. The total is less by 12,000,000 than in 1931. The total for the Air is actually down by a small amount. In view of the fact that the first-line strength of the R.A.F. leaves us fifth on the list of Air Powers, Sir Philip Sassoon is justified in saying that our air policy is, as it has been, "conspicuously moderate and unprovocative." The Air Ministry is right in going all out for the maximum of efficiency in respect of the machines it does possess and the personnel—which is reflected in the records made and maintained—rather than in consuming its resources on constructing aeroplanes which will soon be obsolete. Taking the expenditure as a whole, no one can be satisfied with the huge sums still involved. But this country has never accepted a policy of unilateral disarmament, and the next step must depend on agree- ment between the Powers.
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