NEW! ZEALAND'S DUTY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2514, 15 July 1915, Page 7

NEW! ZEALAND'S DUTY

i , (To tho Editor.) . Sir, —On July 9 Lord Kitchener said to tho people of Britain "the vital need i was more and £ftill more men," and yet I they must have somewhere about 3,000,i.OOO men under arms. To do her share on, a population basis New Zealand should v have 75,000. •.' She has 25,000 only. At the same timo (including these) the men- to produce and export our primary products number at,, least (;75)000. ; i )So -that; i napartfrom any question-of what"'is'her fair share. New Zealand can spare another 50,000, at once. 1 , h ■ •-

■And-yet on July 13 the Minister,said: "He hoped there would be no attempt; to interfere with tho well-thought-out scheme (i.e., for the present reinforcements). He would lay on the table :a memorandum on the whole subject by the Chief of the General Staff." In that memorandum' it is stated: "We have to prepare for a war which may last for three, years. It wpuld be an everlasting- disgrace to New Zealand if before tho. war came to an end she had to confess that she could not maintain' her Expeditionary/Force ; in'the field. Tho honour of putting a large number of units into the field at* the one timo would be forgotten,, in the failure to maintain them there. We must prepare for a long : war, and it is essential that we should count the |cost/ and mako suro that our resources of men aro organised in such a - manner as to last to tlie finish. New Zealand mustnot bo exhausted before peace has been declared." . •, Sir,- this is rank heresy,, and notwithstanding the great respect tho country, has' for its author 'in his .military capacity,'' and notwithstanding _ that it was put forward by the, Minister, it must" be utterly repudiated'by the country. Kitchener 'Wants men. What on earth does it' matter whether: we can keep up our separate unit or net? . For the sake of'that; unit we are asked to refuse to send; men. The plain 'fact is'that tho country is getting no lead on the matter, and that if We, tlio people, do not instantly bestir ourselves wo shall go down to history with an everlasting disgrace upon our name. Wo have not provided more than one man for Britain's thrie; we have not shared or offered tp share the extra cost of the war over and above men; andvnow when, the Mother Country is making an unrestricted call on her own sons wo tare asked to hang back. Tho memorandum was obviously prepared; weeks ago, and is out of date on an' absolutely vital point. It states "the Imperial Government up to the present has requested that all men . . . should; tako rifles with them from Now Zealand." .. Yet weeks ago '.'a- , reply canie (i.ei, from Eugland) that if New Zealand sent the men to England they would arm tlicm with rifles" (tho Minister on July 1). New Zealand refused. "The reason for that was that if we were to send men to train in England they would receive Imperial rates of pay and Imperial pensions, and there would be a serious conflict between the New Zealand and British sections." If. the British, j authorities are satisfied to receive the men and arm them, what validity, is there in the objection? The plain fact stands out that Kitchener has offered to arm the, men we send, and we won't send them. , How many men has France put in the.'field? Every available man._ Has she held her men back from arming so that they can become reinforcements in two years? There would be no Franco to-day if she had- adopted any such folly. And if we do wo may become a German colony. Let the Generals on : tho spot arrange the reinforcements when we have supplied tlio armed men. If need bo, abandon our distinctive Now Zealand unit. But for God's salco, citizens -of New Zealand, sweep asido the present tangle and insist that New Zealand shall press on to send forward in tho next six months at least 50,000 men.—l am, etc., S.'A'.'ATKINSON. July 14,1915.