DEFENCE AFLOAT AND ALOFT

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 236, 3 July 1944, Page 4

DEFENCE AFLOAT AND ALOFT

Sea-poiver in recent years has acquired a three-dimensional significance. It depends, as the Chief of the New Zealand Naval Staff, Commodore Sir Atwell Lake, emphasized at the annual meeting of the Navy League in Wellington, on the strength of a nation’s resources in fighting ships, merchant ships, and in the air. Each is a complement of the others. When the strength of one falls below the safety mark of numbers and efficiency, the others are endangered. . The war has demonstrated this. The lesson should be kept prominently in mind in laying down defence policy in the future. This, country has had a narrow escape from serious attack. It is still liable, as Sir Atwell Lake has reminded us, to attempts at raiding qur supply lines by enemy submarines. This experience should have impressed upon everyone' the fact that our safety in geographical isolation is a thing of the past. Defence policy in the future must be based upon the realization of this.

The defeat of the enemy in Europe and the Pacific should mean, as we all hope it will mean, a state of general peace tor a long period of years. It can only mean that, as bitter and costly experience has taught, if armed resources are maintained at a strength that will make any nation meditating an aggressive policy think twice before embarking upon it. We have to think of adequate and efficient defence forces not as an expensive luxury in peacetime, but as a stern necessity for ensuring that peacetime will be secure and lasting. We .will have to think in terms of trained soldiers, trained seamen, and trained airmen. The last two are especially important, because New Zealand is a maritime country, and as Admiral Lord Jellicoe pointed out in a speech in Wellington many years ago during his term as GovernorGeneral, “the sea is our life.” Prior to his appointment to this office he paid a special visit to New Zealand and Australia to study and report upon naval requirements for the defence of the British communities in the Pacific. It was upon his recommendations that the Royal New Zealand Navy was placed upon its present basis. The system recommended by Lord Jellicoe, and in part adopted, has served its purpose. Events are shaping the course for a new development in naval defence in which New Zealanders, it is hoped, will play a more prominent part. With this development .more systematic attention will also have to be given to training tor the complementary sea service, the Merchant Navy. I his point was stressed by Sir'Atwell Lake at the Navy League meeting. In a maritime country such as this, recruiting for the Merchant Navy should not be a problem. 'Die real problem has been to find a system oi training that will ensure an adequate supply of first-class deck officers, with provision for the trainees to put in a period of instruction in the Senior Service to qualify for the Naval Reserve. Plitherto our military cadets have gone to the Australian College at Duntroon, and naval trainees to the Commonwealth Naval College at. Jervis Bay. But the numbers acceptable have been limited. There is no reason why we should not look forward in the future to having our own training establishments, with provision for refresher courses overseas. A beginning at least should be made by laying the foundations of a system of training for the Merchant Navy. Wo have shown that we can train our own airmen, and existing provisions for training for the Navv constitute a convenient basis for further development. What is needed is a first-class training establishment for merchant seamen —both officers and men.