IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 411, 21 January 1909, Page 7

IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

•TERRITORIAL TOECE. ' NATION'S DUTY TO PREPAEE FOR ; -;■■! " " WAR: ■■"•-.-• ..-• .•■•■ (BY TELECnAPn—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPTRIqiIT.) V—.'"..- 1 '• London, January 19, ; Mr! R. B. Haldano, Secretary' of State for War, speaking" at Halifax, said the nation had made a rcraarkablo responso to the Government's appeal to organisa'for 'defence., ''; '' '•' Though personally he believed 'that peace' would continue, .Mr. : Haldane said it was the nation's plain duty to prepare for war. _ V LORD ROBERTS'S VIEWS. Lord Roberts's contention is that the British citizen army should number at least a million men. In his notable speech to the House of Lords on November 23, he declared that a surprise invasion from Germany was possible at any time of the year. It was quite possible for 200,000 men to be assembled at German' ports without any fuss or public notificationand embarked before we could prevent their departure. "It is (He added) for you to, consider whether a.week's training for two "Or three years will turn a man into a soldier. 1 ' Was it likely that a country going to attack us would i give six months' notice." "If a Home defence ! army is required to resist invasion surely common sense tells us that.it must be on a soale and so organised that it.can hold its own against the most thoroughly organised- soldiers who would bo selected for attack on' this oountry," ■■. There were, said Lord Eoberts, 80,000 Germ.anH in the United Kingdom already. Britain's citizen army should be trained enough to meet at least 150,000 trained.Continental soldiers; to do this, Britain's citizen army must consist of at least a million men. 'He pointed out the ease with ivhiob. Germany, having tho North Sea and Baltio as naval bases, could mobilise and embark troops sufficient for invasion. Was Britain ablo to defend the porta most likely to be attacked? Germany, with her State rail, ways, could make all the preliminary arrangements of mobilisation with great secrecy. The danger was invasion in the nature of surprise at a time when Britain was quite unprepared. No matter how strong and powerful the ftavy, a sufficient and efficient command of the land was necessary to secure peace'and security at Home.' ■.■.'■'■•' ■ Britain, added Lord Roberts, was making-no preparations to meet the advance in the German navy, and -it tos their first duty'to ask in what way. the increase of the German sea power was likoly to affect her, Atprosont her Navy was fettered, to the shores of the United Kingdom in a way that tho Navy had never been before, and without a proper military force', tho Navy, however efficient in itself, must be helpless. -Britain's military weakness ■ would in all probability bo the cause of the loss of her: naval greatness, "