The White Paper adds that it is the Government's firm belief that the rearmament plan is a contribution indispensible to peace and one which Its the duty of the people to make.
Continuing, the White Paper declares that "deeply as they deplore the necessity for this vast expenditure on armaments and other defen. sive measures, His Majesty's Government are convinced that It must be undertaker "It has been forced upon them partly by circumstances of time and partly by the long interval during which comparatively small demands have been made upon the national finances for the purposes of defence forces. would be neither practicable nor Just that the whole burden of making Wood these deficiencies in the short period of five years should be thrown upon the tax payer during that time, and His Majesty's Government are satisfied that, in proposing to spread part of it over a longer period, they are satisfied that they are. pursuing course which Is fully justified."
The White Paper emphasizes that the programme must be carried out before national defences can be restored {0 the level of safely—Reuler,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.