TIMELINESS IN DEFENCE PREPARATIONS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1671, 11 February 1913, Page 3

TIMELINESS IN DEFENCE PREPARATIONS.

Sir,—l havo been rather disappointed to find that all editorial comment has failed to bring out tho most meritorious feature of the plan projected by the Hon. James Allen, to provide a permanent organisation and equipment for future "contingents" to assist Great "Britain in her battles. Tho idea that the Minister for Defence .has followed the unhappy example of a former Prime Minister, and pledged New Zealand to provido either men or money for foreign scrvice without first consulting Parliament, is ludicrous in the extreme.' In the first place he has shown that ho is not actuated by the same overmastering greed for rank and titlo that has caused tho downfall of so many of his predecessors in Cabinet; and in the second placo he has shown* that his defence policy is no matter of spasmodic and contradictory outbursts, conceived in moments of desperation, and brought forth ill travail of formless and inchoate muddtemont. Certain of your contemporaries have 'not yet appreciated these obvious facts, nor realised, the immense change in defeuco policy that such facts ensure. , Tho Minister, hoping that i*cw Zealand will respond as nobly in tho future as iu the past to the Empire s call for volunteers (and which Opposition journal will not re-echo that hope, at least publicly?), has determined that the disgraceful circumstances that surrounded the feverish preparations for our South African expeditions will lio rendered impossible in the future. Sir, your journalistic .birth is too recent to provide you official knowledge of the howling incompetenco that our unreadiness revealed on that occasion, of the disgusting swindles, and shameless business immoralities that were the common talk of Wellington at that time, of the iniquitous harvest reaped by tho boodlers and wirepullers into whose hands our necessities then drove us. All the opportunities for those practices will be swept away if we start now, and prepare plans, organisation, equipment, and, if possible, horses for any future expedition. I do not blame tho/Cabinet of that day for the actual commission of, or participation iu, any of tho frauds practised at that time;

but I do recognise that their indefinite policy and unstatesmanlike attitude allowed their most .laudablo ofl'orts and intentions to be turned to unworthy use; and I do I ' praise the present Minister lor tho common-scliso proposals that provo t'hat lie, at least, has learnt a lesson from the past. Every administration has its hangers on, ready to profit by tho opportunities of tho "psychological" moment; and I enthuso over any definito plan nnd permanent organisation thnt mako those opportunities fewer. In addition, lam pleased to think that our next volunteer.; will be enabled to more quickly leave for tho front, nnd thus double their acceptability to the Empire. lam disappointed that the Hon. Mr. A"en has as yet done nothing to discourage a certain typo of officer, a relict of tho political patronage system of the last decade, lew in numbers, perhaps; but mighty as a factor to disgust and dishearten thoso who wish ultimate success to our compulsory training system, I would wisli also that the vicious system «£ separate, and almost secret, allowances were done away with, so-that tho salary of each officer could 1m clearly ascertained and shown correctly in tho Estimates.. However, the latest proposals of a coimnon-senso policy of "reform" give hope and some assurance for the futurd;. nnd a'desire to give honour where honour is due has dictated this outburst of approval from a consistent supporter of, and voter for, the cause of . MODERATE LABOUR, February 7.