THE DEFENCE QUESTION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 525, 4 June 1909, Page 6

THE DEFENCE QUESTION.

MR. ATKINSON ON ME. FISHEB?S ■ ""■';; views. ••■■■■■•

ITo TUB liMToit.)

in reply to tie points raised in the letter of Mr. Fisher's in today's isauO, I may, say ,at onoo I havo noiut and dried schorno for a compulsory system to pat toward. 1 am only ooncerned to show thai such a system is practicable and desirable in its main outlines. • A compulsory system is ' in operation ill Switzerland, and is proposed in Australia; and tho conditions in thoijo countries • aro on various points sufficiently. Jiko our own.to make comparison possible,.. ■" , 2 \ Tl| o Swiss are a free people With man. hood suffrage. Mr. Deakin proposed a compulsory scheme, also Mr. Andrew Fisher, and it is comprised in the terms of the coalition of between Mr. Doakin and Mr. Cook. There thus seems no objection to it in principle, lurther, .the. scheme put 'forward in Mr. Fisher'B first.letter recognises it aa the only means .of. enforcing.' discipline, tho lack, of which is lamented as the chief defect in tha volunteer system. 3. With regard to tho cost of tho Swiss system, as and the cost of living aro iv V °o Switzerland than in Now Zealand, the S\vjss figures for tho compulsory system cannot bo applied to, New. Zealand by direct . proportion, .and no attempt has been made or ls i na nii° re 60 a PPb r tlicm. : • , i r* figures for Australia, given by the. Jato l'ederal- l retnior in 'his' speech' at Gympio, on ilarch 30 last, aro set out'in tho following table:— • ' • , • Years. ■ Men. 1 ' . 1 .m ' 38,000; 1,200,000. , 2 ... 61,000 '1,248,000 "■ ' I 1,301,000 "• 4 ... 81,000 1,325,000 6 ... 99,000 1,399,000 6 < ... 116,000 ; . , 1,407,000 .. 12 ... 219,000' (tho maximum) 5. Tho scheme provides foi three years' training for the hulk' of'thi forces, llio average increase in the numberi ? ™ ct L for ™e twelve years is roughly 17,00 C Lff PC/. yearJ So that not more thar! 50,000 to 05,000 men'would bo training a) 1 one timo, and tho totals given for each yeai m the abovo tablo evidently refer to tha number of men' who havo been trained from the commencement of tho scheme to the end' of .each respoetivo year. •®* Conditions hero and in, Australia aro sufficiently alike to.mako.it reasonable to apply to New Zealand on the basis of nopulation tho calculations in regard to tho compulsory .system in Australia. ; , . ... 7. Taking tho proportion for New Zealand as two-sevenths,of tho figures for Australia, tho table reads:— : : Years. .Men. £ >St l; .' r 10,800 ' 342,000' . . I : -...14,500 . 356,000 •3 u: 18,000 371,000 : 4 -iJ) 22,800 . . 378,000 ■ 5■- 28,200 399,000'' : ' 6. , (83,000 402.000 12 »*» GIjOOO * (the .maximthn) 1 •Jk.? l ®' ®y6»Bo..increase in New Zealand tor the twelve years is thus broadly 5000 per J®® l : l*. u t as the number' of young men too attain -18 each vear is actually .about 10,000,. ?'S seem •*" Australian figures aro based.on'tho Swiss system, whore about 60 per cent, are rojecfod each year upon medical' inspection. • ■ . 9. Tho men. under the Australian system ar j toW paid 10s. a week, and are to bo fed,. .I ass ime, provided with . uniforms. , . : do not know how the number is ar. rived. at. of the.40,000 moil-who, it is stated in Mr. Fisher s would .be, in*training. year under the. compulsory system in' New Zealand. If it has appeared in tha papers, I confess I have riot noticed it. .' = v . Taking the figures from the table riven last, above there would be-15,000 mem fcun-, mg eaoh year when tho scheme was in full swing. If the medical inspoctiori bo not' bo' rigid there might'be'as many as 7500 avail.' *Mli'|tar, T lii higher figure would give <£2,500 training'm ,mf yeat. (on; tho presoiir population) when'the Bystcm was in full swing, and of courso tho cost' would bo l.proportionately increased. 1 The riumbor oft taori upoi. the'lnrid of'medipai; 11. Thei forces would of course driD-'with actual rifles, just as -tho ! !"150,000 fully' armed men" in tho "now scheme" would bo armed, wjth. them. -" i 12. Tho forces would, be drilled. by a peirmancnt staff, and' tlieir. own officers and non-coms, as is dpno in Switzerland and Nor* way, and is proposed in Australia: in' tho scheme, and as. is .done in volun* teor systems throughout the Empire. ' 13. Inquiry is mado whother there is any assurance, that ■ when tho compulsory fsVKtein is, effect to, the,, same -. criminal muddlo will not! continue on •a : grander and ' more lavish scale in, the .future..than, in, the past." Perhaps it ; is permissible to' aßk how the "new sohemo" can be given effect to under such _■. alleged "criminal muddle" ? Whatever view, be lield as .to. tho administration of. tho Defenoo Department (which it is not nccessary to disensa from the point of. vidw. maintained 'in this letter,, and which is not hero discussed), the true answer to , tho .above questions will be that ■■■ ": ~ . (i.)' The voluntary . system can bo im« ' proved, . ; . . ' or (liO tho compulsory system can bo , cifccledj . ' ' . ; only under careful management and with a >. strong public : opinion boliind ■ it. . Any failuro in administration would be equally . aa fatal to a voluntary system as to a compulsory one. . , . ■ 14. There seems i:o be. common ground between. th<j. view put , forward ; in Mr. Fisher's letter and that submitted here, namely, that'at present New Zealand,is not provided with an efficient defence force. In .Mr. Fisher's letter it is maintained tliat thil inefficiency is duo to alleged. maladministration, whilst it is hero submitted, that, it, u due to,a defect in principle.' ; : .15. The real.dillerciico in! tho two v viowi lies in tho respective ideals'.of efficiency held, by the writers.' .In Mr. Fisher's letter next to no. importance. is attached to. training .in . the field. It. is here submitted that- tho cs« senco of all!, training for war must; bo to do as nearly as possible what' will havo to ba done in war. The chief thing is to bo ablo to attack tho enemy (not to wait for him),' and to-attack him in superior numbers., Tho movement of troops is no easy matter, even when, not. in the presence of the enemy. The criticisms, upon the Easter camps' that appear in Mr. Fisher's letter more than justify the view here maintained : that foui days' (nominal, two. days aotual) training ill oamp aro not by any means sufficient tc enailo our forces to tako tho field.—-I anb , etc., " ' S. A. ATKINSON. June 2, 1909. , ,