BRITAIN'S LAND DEFENCES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1701, 18 March 1913, Page 4

BRITAIN'S LAND DEFENCES.

The cabled report of Field-Mar-shal Lord Roberts's speech to the great meeting of working men at Wolverhampton, published in yesterday's issue, would seem to indicate that the great soldier is as popular as ever amongst the masses of Britain. Lord Roberts has placed the British Empire under a heavy debt of gratitude for the services he has rendered it in his capacity as a military commander, but he bids fair to render still greater service as a soldierstatesman determined to arouse the people of Britain to a full sense of their responsibility to adequately defend their homes against invasion. For years now Lord Roberts has missed no opportunity to impress on the leadors, of public opinion in Britain, and the British people themselves, the inadequacy of the existing military forces. It is in its way almost pathetic to see this fino soldier striving vainly, it would at times seem, to convince the political heads of the War Office of the utter _ futility of thinking of confronting the trained _and disciplined troops of Europe with forces, however courageous, composed mainly of Territorials, insufficiently trained, and comparatively unfit to take the field. The policy of Britain has been for so long one of concentration on naval defence, that any proposal which may seem at -all likely to divert expenditure from the Navy to tho military defence is certain to meet with the bitterest opposition. This, coupled with the antagonism to compulsory military service which has been assiduously fostered, has made the task undertaken by Lord Roberts and the National Service League a most difficult and at times a most disheartening one. Despite, however,,the prejudices to be'broken down, and notwithstanding the obstacles placed in the way of the advocates of universal service, there is not the least, doubt that much progress has been made in the direction of arousing interest in the question, and of forcing the public to realise that, there are possibilities in connection with the defence of Britain which may involve national disaster unless a'well-trained and numerically strong military force is available in case of emergency. No one would suggest that there should be any slackening off in Naval defence 1 —that would, under existing conditions, be suicidal—but the danger of neglecting the land defences of Britain is beginning to be recognised. The matter, of course, is one involving an additional burden of cost to the Mother Country as well as personal self-sacrifice on the part of those who would be called on to serve in the defence force. This is but another-evidence of the growing necessity for the overseas .Dominions taking a larger share in the burden of Imperial Defence. The more we are able to relic,ve the Mother Country of the cost of providing for the protection of the outlying parts of the_ Empire, and the trade routes in their vicinity, the more will she be able to concentrate her resources in making impregnable the heart of the Empire.