It was well to bear in mind, Mr, Stanley added, that whereas the general decision to rearm was taken by this country in 1936, the decision to equip the army on the present scale with masses of modern equipment and ammunition, which modern warfare necessitated, was only taken a year ago.
The expansion of the British Ex-Ipeditionary Force in France continued, and the numbers of British troops in France today were about double what ihey were in October, and every day saw some increase in their strength.
Mr. Stanley said when he recently visited France, the troops had already experienced some six or seven weeks of continuous snow and frost. He visited a great part of the lines along which British troops were engaged in putting up defensive works, and Was struck by the amount of work accomplished and the amount of work nearly completed, Almost directly after his visit, conditions improved, and he had no doubt that recent weeks had shown an increased strengthening of the British position,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.