IN DEFENCE OF ARMAMENTS.
After presenting to the shareholders of Vickers, Limited, at the recent meeting, a satisfactory report showing a moderate increase in net profit for the past year, the Chairman, General the Hon. Sir Herbert A. Lawrence, made some very interesting comments both on the shipbuilding industry and the activities of armament companies. With regard to the former matter he was able to report considerable improvement, stating, among other things, that at Barrow, Vickers-Armstrongs, Limited, has under construction four submarines, four des. troyers and two large passenger liners, while the Company is also concerned in fitting out one cruiser, one training ship for Brazil and two submarines. Concerning the general question of armaments, Sir Herbert said : " I am pleased to state that our relations with the three Defence Services continue to be satisfactory, and although, as an armament firm, we are the subject of opprobrium in certain quarters, we claim that so long as our products are necessary for the defence of the Empire, we are rendering a national service—and, as our trading results show—without any large reward to our share- holders. So far as Vickers, Ltd., is concerned, the inflated profits of private armament firms exist only in the imagination of ill- informed critics. Further, in this country—and in this country alone—the export of armaments is forbidden except with the approval of the Government, and sanctions are not granted to your company if it is considered detrimental to the national interests for such orders to be executed here. It is not easy to understand the prejudice which appears to exist among a small section of the public against so-called armament firms, which are just as much part of the defence system of this country as the forts defending the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour."
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