MAIL SERVICES AND DEFENCE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 601, 1 September 1909, Page 9

MAIL SERVICES AND DEFENCE.

HAVE WE FALLEN. FROMGRACE ? ; Sir,—While, agreeing .with i)r.V Gibb as' to tho.rirreverenco, .and,..might I add, tho.vul-gai-ityiof the' pet Ministerial■'boast"-of this be-ing'-"Qod's jown Country," it would seem, on their hypothesis,'that of lata our country has eqiuewhat fallen out,of heavenly. favour in.respeot to its important mail .services and over its-naVal .defencb. 'Until'of recent years, Now .Zealand had mail services, with' England both by. way- of . Vancouver and. San, Francisco, but both have been starved out of esistenco. .'An effftrt at tho 1307 conference, promised n. restoration. of -tlia Vancouver,' tho so-called •" AllBid Route,"' but Sir Joseph's insistenos on his imiiracticablo foible-.of'a 20, or was it a 25, knot - fipsed' 'on' tho Pacific killed that pro:,posal.' .'As a substitute, . and > despite his patriotio-fervour^'he has dropped thisV flag • p&triotisro 'n.nd.'given.,the Dominion a servico of-.third-olass steamers: by way of the. French Bottlcinent of Tahiti;and San Francisco. The Dopinion has . also lost its connection with the Brisbane-Vancouver, servico at Suva,, and we ttre now' dependent ,;benefioicrics 'on ; tho Australian Government content to have duri'raaililyingTofto'u .for. days in Sydney and. then sent'on by" steamers just slow enough to miss train connection at Auckland..- Surely, indeed,'tho favour of ■ heaven has deserted .us 'over this.adjunot'ofscivilisation,'the transport of- mails.

lit.thevmatter. l; of! defence, also,' our interests seem.to bo out of jC'iat.vl'or reasons that need, not bo hero set cht,. and without tho "cour- ■ Usy ' of consulting -bur.. Australian;, neighbours, ; tho Cabinet tenuerea, a oattiesiiip tome Old ; Country, oiid the newl;r-elected Parliament adjourned, that tho Premier might attend an Imperial : Defence Conference, so postponing tho odtisideration" of public affairs. As , a :, ; r'oward for our quixotic'liberality, wo arc . now to loso tho present protection and. tho V : visits' of ;;ir powerful section.'of tho Imperial .Fleet. ' Oit'r coasts and commerce .are "to de'l pend' for tho future upon a fleet stationed in ; ' the, distant seas of 'Chiiia; a fleet.which in the "Cfi'Sb-of'war could not; bo spared. ; from ' tho grayer Imperial . interests thero imperilled. '■'True,'we aro to have an. odd third-grade, vesselVbr two, but suoh for 'present-day, defence is ~ fajcicoli and evidently .we. are, -as chosen by ' our rulers/ to remain dependent upon our distance and isolation. The, favour of heaven, I Tepetit, over" this matter 5 surely, does seem .clouded. .Clearly the. lines of our defence, as of , ,our!' ( mails,. 'ought.;to, bo' carried. out; in .close colijqnotion ; with,'. Australia; and in tho spirit- .. ofUrno Imperialism, which means'.goodwill and . rilutuol 'assistance.. To defend- New: 1 Zealand , and 4 its interests' apai't from Australia isim-' . possible, and any 6cheme so' •' bhfed must ornmble.—l 'am, ctp., JNO. DUTHIE. . . 'August' 31. ~ , -/ ■ . . '