The defensive arming of trawlers and coasting vessels in the North Sea was proceeding with all speed, declared Mr. Geoffrey Shakespeare, Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, in the House of Commons today.
The machine-guns supplied to Finland, he added, were not so suitable for anti-aircraft defence as those now being fitted on trawlers and coasting steamers. The problem of arming all ships, Mr. Shakespeare said, was one of very great magnitude. He assured the House that it was going on, and was not being held up in any way
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.