The Dominion THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1915. NEW ZEALAND AND THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2514, 15 July 1915, Page 4

The Dominion THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1915. NEW ZEALAND AND THE WAR

In the, early days of the war it was the bexist of the people of New Zealand that they would aid the cause of the Allies—the cause of liberty and democracy in tho world—to the utmost limits of their resources. ' The Dominion has already done a great deal, and her sons on the hills of Gallipoli have written their names in the scroll of fame in letters that, will omlure 39-tons u the msitwy 'of jSftllaat dwds Ms ta nfe ml

minds of, men. But tho war is not yet won, and the call is for more, and still more, men. Lord. Kitchener has told us that the supreme hour for every Briton is striking. If .ivo would maintain our Empire and all for which it stands .in human progress, it. is a case of now or never. In Loud Kitchener's own words, we must "shirk nothing, shrink from nothing, but lend our full weight to tho impetus that shall carry us to victory." This stirring appeal to"the manhood of the Empire is rousing the Dominions to increased efforts, and in New Zealand it is plain that wo must do more than has so far been contemplated. Tho plan on which the Defence Department is working was outlined in a memorandum by Colonel Gibbon, Chief of the Gene*ral Staff, presented to Parliament on Wednesday. This document covers' a great deal of ground very thoroughly,. but unfortunately throws no light, on some fundamental matters. Colonel Gibbon very properly emphasises the need for maintaining a regular supply of reinforcements. At tho same time lie dcprccates the idea of greatly increasing tho numbers of troops to be sent forward—or at least asserts that "great care" is necessary before acceding to tlio "popular cry" for more men.' Tho memorandum, though nowhere explicit on the_ point, can bo read as tacitly assuming that the force which this Dominion has already placed in tho field closely approvJies the maximum for - which we can provide reinforcements. We cannot believe it was intended that such an inference should be drawn. For instance, where do we arrive if we apply the principle generally ? On a popula-, toon of. a million souls our fixed units m the field and under training have a strength of approximately 11,000 men. The balance of our male population of military age we are theoretically keeping to ipake good wastage in these fixed units. Had the nations generally conse r ved their fighting forces on the same basis in order to have available reinforcements for an indefinite period ahead, their armies,in the field to-day would be no more'than as follow: —

Britain ... 500,000 Germany ... 700,000 France 130,000 Austria ... 539,000 Russia ...1,900,000 Italy 385,000 ' ' !•.'

This is obviously very far away from tho real position. The figures, indeed, are in several cfiEcs decidedly less than actual numbers kept under arms in times of peace by the various Powers. Colonel Gibbon's memorandum unfortunately lends itself to this interpretation, and until the point is cleared up ho is liable to-be represented as asking the country to' pursue a policy in sending'forward men that has been adopted, so far as we can discover, nowhere else in tho World. '

If New Zealand and Great Britain were the same distance away from the_ theatre of war we would unhesitatingly recognise it as our duty to' put into the field as many men in proportion to our.',population as Britain is>doing. Britain cannot let her whole available population of military age go to the front', because she must retain men for tho equally important work of producing-muni-tions and so forth._ Similarly, we must, retain a certain proportion of our men for tho production of foodstuffs for export to feed tho soldiers in the "field and the, workers in Britain. Apart from this, our only limitations should be > such as arise' through difficulties of transport, difficulties of training,'and difficulties of equipment. If Britain wants the men we may depend upon it that she will assist us to transport', them,' though at a pinch, we believe, ways and means could be found with the mercantile marine available locally to send forward largely-increased bodies of troops. /The difficulties of training and equipment are', more serious. For a fjime they threatened to be insuporable. a way out was indicated by Mr. Allen in his statement in the House of Representatives on July 1. Questioned as to the statements that Australia had been invited to send men, with or_ without equipment, Mr. .Allen said:

It is correct to say that some weeks ago we communicated with the Imperial authorities suggesting that if they wanted more men from us; they would have to assist us with the supply of rifles and munitions. A reply came to that communication that if wo 6ent the men to England they would arm them with rifles. To that wo replied that it would be much more useful to us if they supplied the rifles to ushere, and let us train our own men and equip them.

It is' not quite clear from this whether the War Office is willing both to train and equip New Zealandei's sent to England, but that is apparently the sense in which Mr. Allen himself read the message. The Minister, ' in continuing his statement, explained that if New Zealanders were sent to Britain to be trained there would b->. conflict between the Imperial and New Zealand rates of pay and pensions. This obstacle, however, should not be insurmountable. Already there are fighting side by side at the Dardanelles men of the Imperial, Indian, Australian, and New Zealand Forces, all drawing varying rates of pay and pensions, and so far nothing has been heard of unpleasantness on this score. Naturally, New Zealand will desire to train and equip as many men locally as possible. But our recruiting has already got ahead of our training system. T,he' men aro eager and willing to serve; The Empire is calling for them. And if one avenue of service is blocked to thehi for the time being, it is for us to discover whether another may not bo open.' Lord Kitchener tells us that the need for men is urgent, and a large reserve is imperatively required. The call he has made in the Guildhall is a call to the whole Empire, not' merely to the people of Britain, and if we fail to heed it we shall be sluggards indeed.