"BE PREPARED!"

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 51, 24 November 1919, Page 6

"BE PREPARED!"

ANOTHER WAR POSSIBLE

DEFENCE OF NEW ZEALAND

That there is danger of another war in tihe not .very remote future was the tenor of some of the speeches rnado at a reunion dinner of ollicere of liho Now Zealand Bilie Brigade on Saturday nifflit. The several speakers who referred to tho subject urged that no effort should be spared in making adequate preparations to w?et the possible contingency of an outbreak of hostilities.

"There is one.thing certain: Wo cannot afford to lose the services of valuable officers liko yourselves, officers who have bejin 'through the mill,' many of you having had al) leajst four years' foreign experience," declared the chairman of the gathering, Colonel C. W. Jtelvill, Officer Commanding the Wellington Military District. "I do trust that none of you will go on the Hetirod Liet, and thereby cut yourselves adrift from the future forces in this country, whatever they may be." Ho asked them until such time as the future defence policy of the country was decided, if they did not wish to take up duties with the Senior Cadets, to place themselves on the Jlcscrro of Officers on the understanding that, when a scheme was formulated, they would take an active part in carrying it out. "The time of the present is not the time to think that war is over," Colonel Melvill continued. "Wo all wish we could think it was, but I think that now, perhape more than before the last war, we should see that our house is set in order. Tho danger in the future will, I am afraid, bo closer to horns than it was when we had to send the Expeditionary Force to France, and it behoves us to bo prepared for it, and, aleo, as far as wo can, to spread this gospel abroad. Nobody wants this country to bo a militaristic country, nobody less than anybody who is connected with the forces here, but we do want the people of tihe country to reaJise that there is a danger ahead of us, and vo must have some force trained for the defence of tho country." Lieutenant-Colonel W. S. Austin said he thought it was the duty of returned officers to com* forward and give their services for tt? benefit of the country. (Hear, hear.) Every thinking man must admit that war had not ceased, and would not cease on the earth for a long time to come. Personally, he thought that another wer was nearer than. • a great majority of lilio people were inclined to bcliove. It was "up to" the officers to do jvhat they could to help prepare the pjoplo of tho country for a future struggle. Similar eentiments were expressed by Lieutenant-Colonel E. Puttick, who said it behoved everyone to prepare for the next war, -which he, in common wibh a great many others, thought was not far distant, They must see that those -mho fell in the last war did not sacrifice their lives in vain, and tihat the cause for which tbpy died was not losli in the next war by reason of 'unpreparedness. By unpreparedness in the Great War more casualties had been suffered than need have been the case. It was the dutv of all those -who had served with Mβ N.Z.E.F. to take a live interest in the defence of the Dominion not only by taking an active part in Uie training of the men, but by educating public opinion on the need of being ready to meet eventualities.