WHERE TO FIGHT

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 217, 8 June 1920, Page 6

WHERE TO FIGHT

GENERAL BIRD WOOD'S ADVICE

THE BASIS OF DEFENCE

General Sir William Birdwood told the .members of tlifc New Zealand Club yesterday that he had climbed to'the °i.- hills with the object ot getting a bird's-eye view of Wellington, but had found' that a screen of smoke obscured the city. The smoke at any rate was evidence that flio city was active in an industrial senso, and the eight had a moral for men who had 6een the devastation wrought in Europe by the German invaders. "My army happened to have the good ,??. re^GVG Lille," continued General Birdwood. "When wo got there Lillo was a dead city. The Germans had removed practically all the machinery from the manufacturing centres, and the industries of Lille were stilled. That was not legitimate warfare. The Germans <lid it deliberately because they wanted to have undisputed commercial superiority after securing -.he military domination that they were aiming at. The citizens of Lille were good enough to oifer ma the freedom of thei city, and I went over thero a year later to receive this honour. Lille was still a city of tfoo dead. Nothing was going on. "I asked the peopl<* why they had not resumed their industrial activity, and they replied that they hud been unable to get machinery. They had i laced their orders in England, but these orders coiild not 'be filled quickly. Many other towns in the war area were in the same position. How extraordinarily fortunate are towns like Wellington, thnt have never had an enemy at their gates. "Whatever happens, make si.re that if fighting takes place in the future it takes placo in somebody else's backyard, and not in your own. I said the other day that I realised the limitations that were placed upon the defensivo preparations of a people numbering enly one million. You cannot go in for enormous expenditure, even for defence. But you can have a definite policy to work to. Make up your minds what you are going to do and let your people know how far that falls short of perfection, as of seeessity it must do. Then they will know what to expect in time of necessity. Never allow yourselves to bo put in the position of enduring what Lille endured." General Birdwood added that New Zealand's great need seemed to him to bo additional population. Thftt need seemed to bo realised by the people he had met. Hb had been surprised and pleased to see that according to the official figures the birth-rato of the Dominion had been well maintained during most of the years of the war, in spite of the mobilisation of a large proportion of the men. The women evidently had been doing their duty, and the "Diggers" had done their duty at the same time by bringing back some 3000 brides from thei Old Country. He had noticed in Australia that despite tbe drought the best crop of all—" tho children—was doing wonderfully well, and he did not doubt that as ho travelled through NeV Zealand ho would find lusty youngsters of the same stamp. Children were tho most, valuable crop that any country could raise, tout he hoped that New Zealand v-as not <roing to depend upon that crop for building lm the population. Tho Dominion soldiers, during the war, had invited many of the men of British regimffits to come to New Zealand. They had told ttiie English "Tommies" to emigrate to a conntry that had abundant sunshine Mid that was prepared to reward the man who assisted in the tasks of national development. When all, tin?' New Zealand soldiers had been settled again in civil life the Dominion ought to welcome thousands of the British soldiers.