Evening star., 1936-02-04
NEW PARLIAMENT
TACKLES DEFENSE
First Session Under Reign
of King Edward Assemblies
Without Ceremony.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
LONDON. February 4.-The first
Parliament of the reign of King Ed.
ward VII assembled without cere.
mony today. launching its denbera.
tions 70 strike squarely into the prob
lem of increasing the national de.
fenses
Under the shadow of persistent In.
ternatiOral tension. armaments and
how to pas for them constituted the
new sessions principal business, with
number of important domestic is
sues crovdlng closely.
A royal message, replying to the
parliamentary condolences for the
death Of Kirg George v. was sent by
King Edward to be read In the House
Of Commons.
Prime Minister Baldwin told tie
House Of Commons today that the ma.
ton would be given details of British
plan for rearmament "at an early
date"
Eden TO Explain Policy.
Parliamentary sources looked fol
Anthony Eoen to explain then, in his
first speech to the House as foreign
secretary. the latest developments Of
the governments policy of backing the
League Ct Nations n the Italo-Ethio.
plan conflict.
The new foreign secretary also wa.
likely to face barrage of questions
from Parliament members concerning
his talks with European diplomats last
week after the funeral of King George
Parliament had adjourned just be-
fore Christmas and. save for a special
meeting after the death of King George
to express its sorrow and to take the
oaths of allegiance to the new King
Emperor, 1t had not met since then.
The cabinets defense subcommittee
concluded its studies and Prime Minis
ter Stanley Baldwin was expected to
lay the defense budget plans before
the House of Commons Immediately.
This brought up the proba bility of a
full dress debate on Great Britain's en-
tire defense problem.
Opposition Expected.
Bitter Labor opposition to the Gov
ernment program, for strengthening
the national defense was anticipated,
but parliamentary sources said there
appeared to be no doubt that the
Conservatives would carry the issue.
This rearmament issue was one Of
the most prominent in the November
general elections campaigns. which
gave national government a strong
majority.
Informed sources said Baldwin
would seek some 81 900 900 900 through
a defense loan for repairing the de-
ficiencies of the nations defense" the
bulk of the fund to be used to expand
the air force.
The Italo- Ethiopian crisis arose as
major factor in the defense issue.
Government authorities insisted the
nations weakness was a contributory
factor in Italy's challenge to the
League peace machinery and that a
strong Britain was the best guarantee
for strong League.
Destroyers to Be Asked.
In addition to regular estimates for
the army, navy and air force, the
government intended TO bring down a
number of supplementary estimates
before Easter. including one to enable
a f1otilla Of seven destroyers to be laid
down during the present financial
year.
On the domestic side, important
government measures included a pro-
poSal for dealing with mining royal
ties, one of the problems complicating
the coal mining industry, through
state purchase from private owners Of
coal mining royalties; education bills
for England and Scotland, to raise the
school age from IA to Is; shipping
subsidy bill, to continue the existing
subsidy for tramp shipping for another
IL months. and a bill to reduce the
number Of surplus cotton spindles in
Lancashire