Chancellor Rebuts Opposition Contention for Rejection of Government Schem Second Reading Passed London, Feb. 25 PINTED rebuttal of Opposition contentions was made in the House of Commons to-day by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr, Neville Chamberlain, in moving the second reading of the Defence Loans Bill, which authorizes the Government to borrow £400,000,000 to build up Great Britain's fighting strength, The bill passed its second reading by 307 votes to 132.
After Mr. Chamberlain had defended the Bill, Mr. H. B. Lees-'Smith, Labour member for Keighley, West Riding, Yorkshire, on behalf of the Opposition, moved: its rejection in a resolution stat~ ing that The House viewed with misgiving the massing of huge competitive national armaments, was opposed to financing defence expenditure by a loan, and refused to proceed with measure which would weaken national credit, raise prices and depress the standard of living, and which, moreover, was not accompanied by any effective measures to prevent profiteering or to'co-ordinate the defence forces, Mr. Lees-Smith contended that Sir Thomas Inskip, Minister for the Ca-ordination of Defence, was not solving any problems: he was merely a shock absorber keeping a ring between the defence department which were getting all the prize money out of their unlimited resources of borrowing; Mr. Lees-Smith aho expressed dissatisfaction with the degree of planning and ce-ordination disclosed Sir Thomas Inskip's speech. Out of the seventeen Cabinet Ministers In the House, he said, no less than thir teen had to answer questions con cerning preparations in the event of War. There was no evidence that Sir Thomas Inskip was co-ordinate Ing those thirteen colleagues.
Mr. Lees-Smnlth suggested the appointment of a civil: Planning committee to work along' parallel lines with the Committee of Imperial Defence on aspects of the defence prob-Jem which were "obviously" being neglected."
Mr. Lees-Smith said he refused to reassured by the Chi the Exchequer or Mr. J.
economist whose 'Chamberlain' had' quoted. tended that the Government Britain's Budget to Top £1,000,000,000 srectaL TO Te Me, wene"
London, Feb. 26.
Att 13 is likely to' prove unlucky, day for the British tae payer. It the probable date 000,000.
Which is expected to top 2£1,00¢ the presentation at the Budget,
mates aggregating "/£408,00000, net to the, Ci) there remain the estimates of the three "defence arms, due next Week, which are expected tongs repute at east 0006000, and Sit probably be much larger 'To these figures must be added the National Debt service, which last Year amounted to 198.000 Oe, "Hence, the fla! expenditure wit be at' leat 200000000 Reuter The "contrary policy" by which armaments expenditure and. borrow-Ing were to. cease simultaneously Invited a catastrophic slump, added, "Luring witler On"
Herr Hitler, Mr. Lees-Smith said, was always pushing to soe where he could obtain advantages, and other nations were giving way. Hitherto Groat Britain had always given way. He believed they "were misleading everyone and unconsciously luring Hitler on. He did not believe that Britain would give way for ever, but thought it was almost a criminal danger not to let the German Leader know what the British nation would not stand, Mr, Chamberlain, in opening the debate, said he welcomed the absence from the resolution of the suggestion made last week by its leader, Me. R. Attlee, that the Bil was a "war measure' would be very unfortunate, the Chancellor of the Exchequer declared, if any apprehension of imminent war were created at a time when there was no reason or justifeation for any such fears.
Citing the invitation to the House to view with misgiving the massing of huge competitive national armaments, Mr. Chamberlain reiterated his own horror of Europe's rearma~ mont and the unproductive expenditure in which It involved nations.
Even now, though the prospect was aigcouraging, he did not despair of Presently finding some new fields in which fresh contacts might be made avoid the ty of pursue auch folly to Its bitter end, hi the meantime, they could not afford
the country's safety and its at relax until' they had provided for to fuifl its international obligations.
Mr. Chamberlain twitted the Labor Party on its "repeated affec~ tation" of ignorance on the relation which the Government's rearmament programme bore to its foreign polley.
"The relation," he said, "has been described and' defined ' with the lutmast clearness by the Foreign Secretary, but Opposition members continue to ignore his statements. must Uherefore ask the House to bear with me while T once more repeat Foreign Secretary's words.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer then read Mr. Anthony Eden's well-own declaration at Leamington on November 20 commencing: "These arms Will never be used in a war of gression and will never be used for a purpose inconsistent with the League Covenant or the Pact of Mr. Chamberlain then challenged Labour "speakers" to say. whether they considered that British arms should not be used for any of the purposes described. by the Foreign Secretary, or whether they conidered that they should be used for any purpose in addition, 'Not unfit they ceased evading such straightforward questions and gave a plain answer was he called upon seriously to deal with such "obscure ly insinuated criticisms'
"Mr, Chamberlain next turned to tue charges that the proposals would. weaken national credit and depress the standard of ving, and that the Bill contained no effective provision to prevent profiteering, No matter in the whole of the problems connected with "the rearmament programme, he said, had received more continuous oF more concentrated attention than the prevention of excessive prices, have no hesitation in saying that nothing that "human ingenuity' can devise or human effort can, achieve, to this end has been left undone," he emphasised, Tax-payers Protected Mz, Chamberlain explained the! machinery set up by the Treasury for this purpose and the principles on which it was working. "You can take it from me," he declared, "that }from the point of view of the Trea [sury I am satisfied that the interests of tax-payers are being adequately protected."
The Chancellor of the Exchequer complained of exaggeration in the statement that the proposals would adversely affect national credit and fof the "confusion of mind" regarding the effects, on the one hand, of vast armaments expenditure and, on the other, of borrowing to meet part of it
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.