London, Oct, 14, PEAKING before his own constituents at Bournemouth last night, Brigadier-General Sir Henry Page Croft said he desired German friendship as essential to disarmament. However, he added, "no such Yriendship can be bought by sacrificing vital British interests, nor by failing in our trust to the natives who have had a specific pledge of our protection."
Vigorous, complete, remorseless and urgent survey of the whole position of Great Britain's defences in the light of the experience during the recent emergency had been undertaken by the Government, revealed Sir John Simon, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a speech at Sheffield last night. It was just as well, he said, that Britain's preparations had been tried out under actual conditions of crisis.
There was much to improve, and now there was an opportunity to correct errors and fill omissions.
Nevertheless, Sir John Simon emphasized, there was no comparison between Britains unpreparedness in 1914 and the forethought and thoroughness of present arrange-
Referring to the question of the orderly use of manpower, the Chancellor said that he and other Ministers were deeply impressed by the innumerable letters received offering services to the State.
"I am not entering on a controversy between volunteering and compulsion," he declared, "though I may observe that compulsion is not the seme thing as organization. But how much more valuable these voluntary offers of help would be if in each case choice and allotment of essen-
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