Defence Passive and Active The very useful debate initiated by
Sir Archibald Sinclair in the House of Commons on Tuesday elicited from Sir Thomas Inskip, as Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence, a reply marked by a not entirely reassuring complacency. If all is well we are no doubt entitled to take satisfaction in the fact, but the assurances Sir Thomas gave were by no means specific. No decision has been reached on the im- portant question of the storage of food reserves raised by Sir Arthur Salter, and effective measures for the protection of the civil population against air attack are still delayed by the failure of the Government and the municipalities to agree who shall bear the cost.. The debate, moreover, went far to confirm Sir Archibald Sinclair's contention that the task entrusted to Sir Thomas Inskip was more than any single man could discharge effectively and that he ought to be assisted by a capable " general staff." There is no doubt that rearmament in this country is now well under way, and the fact makes for the peace of the world, but there is ground for the fear that passive defence is being subordinated to active ; the two ought to be pushed ahead simultaneously with equal vigour. The Liberal leader, incidentally, performed a useful service by his rebuke to those scientists and others who conceive that they are in some way serving the cause of peace by denouncing the Government's air-raid precautions as useless.
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