REMOTE BUT TERRIBLE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2166, 3 June 1914, Page 8

REMOTE BUT TERRIBLE

NEW ZEALAND'S DANGER SPEECH BY SIR I. HAMILTON CONQUESTS THAT HURT GENERAL'S HINT AT THE FUTURE. An interesting comparison between the. position of Switzerland and New. Zealand was made- by General Sir lan Hamilton at, a, luncheon given by the New Zealand Club yesterday, at which ho was tho guest of honour. Ho was accompanied by his staff, officers, Brigadier General Ellison and Major Ashmore, and there were also present, tho Hon. J. Allen, Minister of Defence, and Major-General Godley. Mr. I , '. S. Tope presided.' A Few Facts. "What I want to talk about to-day," said Sir lan Hamilton, "is a visit I paid to Switzerland out of my leave just before I came to Australasia. I wont) there, particularly for the purpose of making subsequent comparisons between what might bo called the parent system.of a citizen army, with tho latest' developments of that system as we find it here. In my report, which will go to tho Minister of Defence, I have frequently referred to tho Swiss examplo in matters of organisation, training, discipline, and so forth. But here I want to touch on a broader and deeper sido of the question altogether. First of all, I had better give you olio or two facts... New Zealand is seven times bigger than Switzerland, but you have only a quarter as many people as Switzerland, and three, times tho revenue, so that, on the face of it), New Zealaudors are made to appear rather fortunate people. Out of their income of four millions the Swiss spend £1,750,000 on their army—nearly half. Now Zealand, to take tho army alone (for tho Swiss have no navy), spends £500,000 out of a revenue of nearly £12,000,000. These are points to bear in mind. . .

Switzerland's Danger. "I should like to say something about the situation of tho two countries. Switzerland is chock-a-block' witli the' greatest military Powers in the world, oho is touched- on one sido by Germany on another by Franco, and on another by Italy; slio has quito determined to resent atiy violation of her frontiers, so tnat sue is obviously in a very critical position. On the other hand New Zealand is very far removed from any danger. Thus on tho face of things there may bo great reasons for Switzerland making every effort to have her military for™!? IU £ rd f r > r d c ™Pa™tivcly few ide ,1 f ■ B , Ut y ° U lm,st consicfei also tho ■ character of the danger faced by the two countri! ™V V 7° Pe ? pl ° in Switzerland wo ior the most part German, but a largo number are French, and Xre arc. some Italians. There is ono Ita fan regiment m tho Swiss Army, the jonty of tho others are German, "id there are a Saw French. If tho Swiss "■ero invaded and conquered bv tho Germans, why, tho German people would bo fairly well at Lome. In to French and the Italians they would have people with whom 'they would have exactly tho same ideas, and whom they could comprehend.. In tho same way it tho French people were to conquer Switzerland tho-. French people would bo perfectly at home.

"Here It is Otherwise." "But here it is otherwise. The danger facing you hero may be very remote, but Jt is not a danger of your being over-run by peoplo who speak tho Eamo language and are of exactly tho fiamo blood as a, largo proportion of actual existing New ZealanderS. • If vou look upon tho domain of nature, you find that in the struggles in the animal ■ world they are much more alarming and terribio when the typ.es arc different. iou may view a spider destroying an insect without much feeling, but if you see it catch a humming-bird and kill it, strangle, it, you feel that something rather torrible is happening. Or if you think of an octopus and a man, 3'ou are filled witli horror. ' When peoples are alike, and when ono conquers the other—very well, that is all 'right, comparatively} speaking. Nothing violent takes place; a man goes on much as before. 'But if people are totally dissimilar, and one is conquered and* ruled by another, the results aro very unpleasant. • I would say, then, that thero are dangers hero in the Pacific which linako-aip in terror.for their remoteness. 'Now, 'there aro certain reasons why wo sTiould have an army here, although wo aro so very, very far away. v No Citizen Rights Without Service. "I should like to say a word about tho Swiss policy. The Swiss policy is ffiat no armed force is to move through Switzerland, _ or violate their frontier, without. their permission. The Swiss home policy- , is broadly-this: Tho , Defence Department do not raise tho army; the cantons.raise the army. In New Zealand that would be equivalent To tho municipal and county councils raising the forces, and tho Education Department raising tho cadets. Tho role of the soldier in Switzerland is to train and.command.tho army produced by tho J civil'authorities'. I should like to turn to another great country—Rome. Their military and civil rights were identical. Civil rights wero obtained by the entry of the name of the man on the roll of his Century, which was the smallest, military and political unit. That was liow n man got his civil rights. Tho Roman Consul was at tho same time Comman-der-in-Chicf, and Consul was as near an approach as you could get in tho.so.days to Prime Minister. That would mean that hero Mr. Massey would he Com-mander-in-Chicf of the Army. In Rome that plan was not always found quito successful, but it is interesting to observe- tho idea. That idea was that there should be no separation between two duties. The man who was tho biggest military man was the -civil man, and vice versa. In both Switzerland andi Rome there is no. question of evasion'or default., I was tery curious to inquire tho reason as regards Switzerland, nml; , undoubtedly, tho-reason lay in the attitudo of the women towards defaulters. (Laughter.) They preferred fellows to do their training, and tho men have got te do it. ' That is about what it comes to.. What of Defaulters? "But still I havo tried with what, small imagination I have to imagine what would be tho attitude of tho Swiss or tho Romans had thoy been faced in any largo degree with any part or section of the community desiring to evade personal service to tho State. I am pretty sure myself that thoy would not in such case (unless a man had religious objections, which would have been—especially by the Romans—absolutely _ accepted", if they believed it was genuine) excuse anybody. I do not think , that they would proceed against the man himself by any special punishment, or imprisonment of any sort, the whole idea being that a man obtained' his political Tight 3 by endeavouring to render himself fit in all respects to exercise them. This idea would be simply applied (o I hicase, and they would have said: 'Flcre is a man who lives in our State, but who does not wish to do anything to prepare himself to defend tho State in casn she is lioiup destroyed or harmed.' I do mil think that they, would have been a bit i .vindictive* about it, , They would have

simply said: 'Very.well, , and they would not have cut off Jiis old ago pension or anything in that way; tlio man would simply never liavo got on to tho voters' register. I have no doubt that if, afterwards, a man ropontcd and saw tho error of his ways, and if he chose, to do six or or eight months' hard drill, they would liavo let him in again all right. But, as long as a man was lit and ablebndied and under no religions disability, and so long as lio would not prepare himself to help the show in case it got into trouble, why, they would say: 'llo" shall have no hand in directing tho show in,times of fair weather.' " (Applause.) At the conclusion of his address Sir lan Hamilton was .accorded a voto of thanks by acclamation.