OUR DEFENCE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 17, 29 May 1939, Page 3

OUR DEFENCE

NATIONAL PARTY'S ENDORSEMENT COLONEL HARGESTS REMARKS Speaking at Edgecumbe last Wednesday evening Colonel J. Hargest stated that the most urgent matter facing New Zealand was the question of adequate defence. Mr Savage had called for recruits for the land forces and his appeal would have the support of every member of the National Party. There was no room for pa,rty differences in a matter so vital They had been given a breathing space alter the recent crisis and advantage should be taken of it. There was this difference in the policies of the Government and the Opposition -—the Government called for volunteers, the National Party believed in universal military service for Home Defence. We &11 claimed the right to share in common privileges we all had a responsibility in defending tKem. The Government could surely not object to this principle as they had used compulsion in so much of their legislation. Mr Savage had said that khaki would not be the first thing to be conscripted—he would conscrtpt wealth first. The Prime Minister should know that he could in a crisis commandeer all the wealth of the Dominion at one sitting of Parliament, but it took months to train soldiers and to ask men to fight wihout that training was to ensure defeat and appalling losses. Mr Savage stated that preparations had been made that would avert disaster in the event of war. "What preparations have been taken,'' he asked ''to evacuate our cities in the event of sudden attack and of what nse were plans unless the people knew of them. There would be simply chaos. And in regard to equipment was it not a fact that the field guns in use were those brought back from the war 20 years ago—the 18 pounder in use here was not seen anywhere else in the world except in museums. The same applied to the Lewis guns and Vickers machine guns. We h<ul about 12 Bren guns here and no antitank guns at, all. Unless we were prepared an enemy could land troops almost anywhere and the initiative in movement would pass to him. The ve'ity roads of which Mr Semple boasted would be at the disposal of the enemy and our chief effort would be directed towards their destruction to prevent his too rapid advance along them. The complete equipment of an adequate force would cost an immense amount of money even if we could purchase it, but a rapid j in rifles and machine guns was possible. With these weapons the Turks had successfully resisted us at Gallipoli. The fust essential was men and onh' a, universal system would provide them.