DEFENCE PROBLEM.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 496, 1 May 1909, Page 3

DEFENCE PROBLEM.

SPEECH BY MR. JAMES ALLEN, M.P. i. . UNIVERSAL MILITARY TRAINING. : 'At Mflton on Wednesday .night (3ays tho ■ Press Association) Mr. Allen, M.P., ad- > - diessed'; a ; meeting -of his ■ constituents on i tho subject of defence. Ho alluded at length to tho wild Tate at which shipbuilding is pro- : oeeding in Germany and England, causing a ■ burden that was bearing those oountrioa and others down. Those who had read tho debate on the. British Naval Estimates must come to the conclusion that in 1910 or 1911; mot only , would Britain havo lost the two-Power standard, but the chanoes were that Germany would' be more than equal with her. It was moocssary now to d-afino anew tho expression ■ "control of the set 1 ." Any scheme involving a subsidy or othefrwise _to him: ultimately v meant, as wo were coming to tho Mother .Country's aid, thaVthe Mother Country must give us representation.To his mind what - they ought to do wiu to endeavour to got this representation. Far one reason, in order that our people m-ght be assured that some . definite policy apphcabte to the whole Empire was to be foflowed; each.'part doing its share, and .for another reason because, without this representation, wo • were in tho dark: as to ' what was ' being done, and 'as to the. reason for the expenditure of our money; v, Then it ■ should .be decided as to how much each por- . tion should give' towards the ; mam fleet,' if .: anything: was. neoessary to be given by the . outlying, portions towards Jjthe main fleet. I. In addition >to that ..-tie portions .. of tho . British , . Empire.: interested in .particular seas should Ito. his : notion • join ; hands to- .police those seas- aid. to protect' their trade -roulica. Ho had no 'i doubt ;he was long before' tbe time. in these ideas in New Zealand, but lie could not help — bolioving that ultimately wo must como to some, such conclusion as ho- had just ,hinted. -Ho put these ideas forward^in order that they •might: sink - into the public mind and. be gauged for what they were worth. • , , Local Defence. He had -only time further to come to particulars i with regard to Now Zealand, and ho wished to jpoiirt out first of all that the-Im-perial Conference which sat only two or three years ago made it perfectly clear to all the outlying. portions fli : the Empire that they ■ most provide for thoir own local security. •' It was truo there >was\ in l Australian watero file- Commonwealth!squadron. He: believed, it would be'a righteous''and a Tost thing for ns to say to tho* Britishers, ''We will relieve you' of the responsibility >of your Australasian squadron and of tho expense," for some of -the, vessels were of littlo use to us. In his opinion, -the Australians were going on entirely . right line 3 generally, thongh he was' ; .not prepared to agreo with all their details. . /More than that, .they w<iro backed;up. by expert opinion as expressed at the Colonial I Conference. They 'had adopted a statesman-, (like proposal for the dofenoe of their shores. . .Would .that wo' jn Now Zealand had. some statesman at the head-of affairs /who could .tako. a 'similar grasp of tho situation, and mako some such ' provision. He' oould not i, view, the situation in. New Zealand and the attitude of tho powers that bo without gravo. disquietude. Wo wore reiving: upon a volunteer system. . Wo had inadequate narbour defence. . Docks and .other works were not protected 'as they ought to bo.'.;'/ Tho Volunteers. He gave every praise'to those of our people who belonged to tho volunteers. -Their: 'devotion to thoir work, and their self-sacrifice ■werebeyond: all praiso, and ho did not -hesitato to say that thoy tfero more efficient than , they, were some, years ago.: There was muoh. ' more work' required of them., than in ' the' • ipMt,i-bhtfthoy . were,'..practically ..speaking, ; • only a few, and there wero men who'ought to be giving timo to ' prepare for - tho defence • of their.. country,!; .who siinply scoffed . at' those, who wero , doing ..this duty, and,{hat.stato of things could pot ba endured any longer. Apart that,-tho V vohnteor ey-ste-in itself did not produce; tho results required. Ho had only to call attention to'fest Esistor and to tho facts as.they wero.diaelosed.in tho otago -.district. -- In that district; .there were supposed; to. bo .. 4730 officers/ nott-coranii-iiidr.ecl ofiieOTSj and ir.cn. Tho actual ' strength of the -corps was 3i76, . and tho attciuknoo ■: at tho Easter camp was' ; .1414, including 64 bandsmen and .307-cadets, bo that about 1043 . men w4re all' the actual ' Volunteers; of 'mature, age .who turned out/ .Ho was not going that night into the efficiency of this force. 'Thero was not fcbne,. and he referred,his hearers to tho. Inspector- ■ Goneral's report of last, yea-r.'Though he had hung on- as a volunteer officer year after ■ : year, in tho hope' that things ! would bettor themsolves, and ..that-'tie young men of. the cormitry would realiso what- patriotism feaDy - was, ho was now forced, into tho position thai . -the whole thing was on wjong Knee, and was e great .waste of money. They had tried ro- . forming tho commandant, they had tried a' defence council, and it waa to be reformed, ;but the ov2' was.'not thero. ;y'- \\\ ■ ■-; • . ' Universal, Training. The ev3.'.^aa':3Mpw|l&n' , HKit It lay in •tho whole system, '.and <ie unhesitatingly .'said that tho timo had como when it was neceaBary to einter upon a system of universal . tramaigi whoro everybody 'would give some-, 'thing''.atXaiy :.rate of his time,- and' of. his' -. iability;.to- the sorvico.'of his country. ■.Tho Prime 'Minister- had frightened the ' people with the word " conscription." Those who ■ favoured .iiniversartraining had no such idea 'in their minds,-and nothing was further away : ' fromtho 'idea of. univcrsil. training than this bugbear of-conscription. • It was not 'that . thoy wore' a|tor. -What; they, were after.iwas : a system that had been , tried 1 elsewhere, and which had proved to- a<largc'.oxtoii/t a success;' •v'] Such' a system from 1 his reading did not inter•fore. with indnstrial capacities. /'lt aided - the /: ..'development.'of the/true..citiMiji /He'did hoi. •beliove'that tho .national' training should end; at ,21 years as tho Defence Minister had hinted. Ho believed in beginning with the cadet and carrying on tho training con- ' " :.«ecutively; to 21, and 'he also: thought froin ; . 'that'.time onwardjbur.mWshould bo brought out annually for a certain amount of train- ; ing, so that in the course of time ' there might he such a force ready to take arms -that even the most. powerful nation - approxi--5' ■ jnate .to us. wouldjhesitate' to. come", into .'.cpn- . flict with.ua. He was aware 'that;-this needed' -;-'v more.' than .'.the straining of men. . It needed equipmerit and ammunition and. other things, .; the details of which he would not go into. Wo were told that so far as New Zealand •was concerned it.was.our business .to look : aftor, the defonce -of our. own shores. Wo could not shirk' th'is;responsibility,' and, wo i : could not mako preparation for.; it in a day. It took years of preparation, and that was where the statesman came in. Ho had to look forward and see not justTwhat was immediately -jbefore his -but' the possibilities of tho years to .come. Ho looked for-; ward, to the. day when the Commonwealth, Now Zealand, and Canada might.join hands :■ to produce l a 1 PaciSc fleet, which would keep r : clear: for us the tradofroutes of'the Pacific,, paid'for out of our own money, and manned .-. by our own men. Mr. Allen was thanked for his address, and a motion was carried'in favour of-univorsal training ;hoth .-for 'naval,and -'military ' de-