DEFENCE POLICY

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 33, 7 August 1936, Page 10

DEFENCE POLICY

REORGANISATION

A COMPLETE OVERHAUL

USE OF THE AIR ARM

ASSURANCE TO COUNTRY

, The intention of the Government to reorganise the whole of the defence, system of New Zealand and to provide the most modern

means of defence was indicated by the Leader of the Legislative Ttanncil (the Hon. M. Fagan) when speaking in the Council yesterday afternoon. . Mr. Fagan said that the people could rest assured that the Government was fully alive to the serioasness of the situation.

He Mid that In the new plan greater- attention would be given to the development of civil and military aviation, with Special reference to the possibility of con " verting commercial aeroplanes into military aeroplanes. Attention was aim being given to the question of the training of pilots. The Government was in touch with the Home authorities, and a plan was being 'devised. Whatever was decided ■iflWt,would fit in with the plan of the Home authorities in connection .with .: the : various parts of the . British Commonwealth. The subject was raised by the Hon. W.- Perry,-/who-'had : given notice of moving" the following motion*:— .That -in; order ,;to eoable New Zealand; to'fulftliher obligations as part of-the" British Empire and as a member of the League of Nations, it is\essential,,in the opinion of this CounciiVthat-urgent action be taken to bring the country's defence forces up^ to.a (Strength- commensurate with those ."obligations. v' '.: ;: EMPIRE IN PERIL. fA» today, the British _ Empire is. in deadly peril," said Mr. P«*ryi ' '1; am not an. alarmist,' but I make thai statement with a full sense of responsibility." Mr.!Perry,said that the matter or defence . was-. above party, arid the Legislative Council knew no party, andvthatwasione reason why he had raised:;the. subject in the Council.

The international situation was such as^to^give^cause for the greatest appre-hension,-/and, it- appeared that international; agreements were.no longer sacred, lit might well be said that the post-warj; era was an era of broken treaties.; Mr. Perry traced the history '6l i Japan's withdrawal from the League:of Nations; Italy's defiance of the League, arid; her invasion of Abyssinia; and Germany's violation of the Locarno ."^Treaty, which . was entered into.voluntarily b;/Germany after the war;. ■At the y moment there: was an upheaval';; in Spain, where there appeared •to /be a clash between Communism and .Fascism, and grave international complications might arise.

Ttie -'Voice-of the British Empire did not ;cai^y the ■weight that it used to carry as an "influence for peace, and he contended-that that was so because of the weakness of the British Navy. JeUicoeana Beatty had said that 70 cruisers: were necessary to guard the Eihpire'6 2trade. : routes, and under the London .Treaty- Britain maintained onlySOv-.Today there were only 31 or 34~ effective cruisers. In 1914 Britain possessed 62rbattleships, of which number ;24ywere new.' Today the strength of-battleships w.as-reduced to 1.2, "I ask,the ■.members, of the .Council to pause.~a.'momißht and consider,' in the light, of -the1 facts, how precarious has beCbme,ourhbld:on:our trade routes," he said. ,- The ."greatness of the British Empire must always depend on having command of the seas, but the state of. ithe j:Nayy, and the fact that the Mercantile ,-.■-- Marine was becoming weaket: ey;ery,:day, was a matter for graye}i alarm., Mr. "Perry stressed the danger^ to-British shipping in the Pacific ■/ through , the operation of lieavily-subsidised .'shipping, and said that if '■} Australia and New Zealand couJdnot.achieve the co-operation of theiMOtner Country then the two coiintries .would, be. justified in. passing their own navigation laws and acting to-gether:-It ■■was pleasing to see that scfrtie; advance. hid been made to remedy."the -position. A VULNERABLE POINT. - History showed that one of the reasons', for. the deterioration of empiresiri'.thje past was the neglect of sea.power.The last war taught that there/was, the danger of Britain being starved'into submission. Britain had orilyvsix "weeks' "foodstuffs and three months'-^ supplies of raw materials. ■ "The nations have discovered our vulnerable! point, and unless we repair these. g*ps < quickly we are in very grave peril Indeed," he said. , Mr., Perry quoted from a letter he had received; from General Sir Andrew Russell, who commanded the New-■.Zealand ■■ Division in"the Great War; .:. : The>..letter was received last month, and in it Sir Andrew, writing from. London, stated that the conclusion 4n'London was that Malta, as a for submarines, etc;— was'-no .good. It was obsolete as a base; for,-;the Mediterranean Fleet. Cyprus,was*only! an advanced base. It was;;wanted;^ anyhow,' to cover Haifa aridjllie: oil;pipe. Egypt was at the mercy oi- who^ultimately held Palestine. -Therefore' Cape Town was suggested as a naval base. After reviewing the'international situation. Sir Andrew.'contiriued:

: .Briefly, the position is that we are approaching very dangerous cross-,l-oads , ;\vith : .blind corners, and 'common; sense suggests the neces- , sary ■ precautions. We might get ' throughVsafely, or we might have an ' unholy v smash. The thing to do is '. to. open' people's eyes to tht> danger. Mr. Ferry referred to the feverish activity, in connection v.-ith Britain's I,'e-arrriihg. .and:. said that -the outstanding:feature was the speed with which the work w.as being undertaken. Be-tween-1914 and 1918 New Zealand ancj Australia .very, nearly became German colonies,. for. had Germany won the war that-would have happened. V' 'WHAT CAN BE DONE?

• The question'was, What could New Zealand do> in the way of repairing the gaps urriaval defence? One way would be'to provide' a cruiser or submarines for the'New'Zealand Division of the Royal Navy. True, it would cost money, but then it had to be remembered that during the \Torst four years > of-New Zealand's history the people had • found £4,000,000 for unemployment taxation, and he considered that money could be found for the/vital, and fundamental purpose of defence; New, Zealand would .then be relieving;; Britain of.some of the tremendous burden she was bearing. New.-Zealand could also provide aeroplanes,' orXsueh parts of aeroplanes as cpujd'be made iiv the country. It was essential, /also, that there should be a sufficiency.of trained fighting pilots. Fighting in the air was different from flying in the air, and it was necessary that.the-pilots.-should be properly trained. ; A citizen army could also be trained; New Zealand's army strength was. at/present about 8000, of who;n not more ;than. 25 per cent, were efficient.

If we had a trained citizen army, with necessary equipment, a country might think twice before picking a quarrel with New Zealand, because on. account of the configuration of the country New Zealand could easily be turned into half a dozen Gallipolis. Indications were that Great Britain was of the opinion that'unilateral disarmament had failed. South Africa, Canada, and Australia were strengthening their defences, and Australia had embarked on a three-year plan costing- £19,500,000. Two-thirds of that plan had been put into operation, New Zealand should adopt either a one, two, or three-year plan. At least the country could establish an Army Medical Corps, and other reserves, stores, and equipment could be conserved. "I feel that the time is coming—and coming quickly—when there will be a clash in the world between two systems' of government—the system of democracy and the system by autocracy," said Mr. Perry. "Unless the people, of the democracies are prepared to take ■ steps to defend themselves they will be attacked by the other systems with probably disastrous results to the principle of democracy." In conclusion, he suggested that New Zealand should be represented at the Premiers' Conference to be held in Australia shortly to discuss defence. The Hon. F. Waite, who seconded the motion, said that one had to examine what New Zealand's obligations were. Everyone in the Council desired peace, but it was still difficult to control national sentiments. A dictatorship moved rapidly and efficiently, but a democracy, on the other hand, moved slowly. A dictatorship was-prepared to take risks. The League of Nations had failed to reduce armaments, and had failed to restrain the aggressor. If collective security was not going to restrain: an aggressor, then it had no value. .In New Zealand, there must be the fullest co-operation of the three services. The defence of New Zealand, was an Empire defence, and the people of Great Britain had been paying for the defence of New Zealand. Could New Zealand stand up to the test of going to war at once, because if we subscribed .to the principle of collective security. we. must face up to that. It was the, duty of New Zealand first to provide protection for her lines' of communication and overseas trade, and the naval services were the only ones that could 'be calle* efficient. The Air Force was not yet ready to cooperate with the Navy, or to provide the' necessary aeroplanes to accompany an expeditionary force. SINGAPORE SQUADRON. Mr. Waite said that' New Zealand must co-operate with the othei: Dominions in the provision 'of an armed squadron at Singapore which would make it impossible for an enemy to operate in the Pacific or Indian Oceans.- As naval bases, Auckland and Wellington with their docks should have the fullest protection. The last expeditionary, force, was poorly equipped, and he suggested that that matter should not.be overlooked. There should be. a survey of transport. Aeroplanes should be of such a type that they- could be adapted for service. Motor lorries and tractors would provide the mechanical transport, and hie suggested-the subsidising of firms so that lorries could be of a certain type, ready to be used if needed. He suggested that in the event of war, steps sh'ouldbe taken to make it unprofitable for a man to stay , at home. Ji he accumulated wealth, then that wealth should go to the State. .-■■■■

. The Hon. D. Buddo said that any Government must consider the necessity of the defence of country.

The Hon. V. Ward said that there must jjie unity of service as well as unity of sentiment to. maintain the ■Empire. 'Britain's decrease in armaments had; been marked, and the present activity was not a war-like pre-paration,-but a movement to revert to the previous position. Britain owed it to her population and her reputation to make ready for every emergency.^ She rarely had more than six weeks' stock of food in hand, and today she had five more million people to feed than in 1914, and of her essential food supplies 80 per cent, had to be brought from overseas by merchant ships which in 1914 represented 45 per cent, of; the world's tonnage. :but now only 32 per cent. Britain therefore had to ensure that, she had at least six months' supply of primary necessaries in storage. The Empire must see to it that the trade routes were adequately protected. MR. FAGAN'S REPLY. The Leader of the Council (the Hon. M. Fagan) said that the question of defence ■ was paramount to New Zealand and every part of the British ComVnonwealth of Nations. "It; is the intention of the Government to reorganise the whole of the defence system, so as to ensure that the money spent will not be wasted, but will provide the most modern means of defence," he said. "Greater attention will be given to the development of aviation—civil and military —with special reference to the possibility of converting civil into military aeroplanes. . "The Government is at present considering the advisability of establish,ing an Air Ministry for the purpose of controlling the entire system of avia-tion-(civil and military) in the Dominion, and thetraining of the^personnel necefesary for the carrying on of those services. "It appears as if the initiative in matters of defence must be taken by the Government, and Ministers are already in communication with the British . authorities with the object of developing a general plan for the defence of the British Commonwealth."

Mr. .Fagan said he did not propose to discuss the matter further at this stage. He was a member of Cabinet, and Cabinet was in communication with the authorities in the Old Country. While he did not want to minimise the present defence-situation, he did not want tp augment it. The Government, in common with the rest of the people of New Zealand and those of ;the.British Commonwealth of Nations, must feel that it was disturbing that Britain, after all her efforts to preserve peace and keep the League of Nations together, had to take the course she was now taking. POSITION IN NEW ZEALAND. Dealing with the, position in New . Zealand, Mr. Fagan said that if there was another war it might happen that New Zealand might not be able ;to do what she did in the last war, that was, send away troops and foodstuffs. "Members will be aware why it may be impossible to shift troops and foodstuffs," he said. "In the circumstances, the Government is investigating the most modern system of defence for New Zealand to adopt. We are .in touch with the authorities at Home from day to day, and a plan is being deviled. Whatever is decided upon must fit in with .the plan of the Home authorities in connection with the-various parts of the British Commonwealth.

"The Council and the people of the Dominion can rest assured that -the Government is fully alive to the seriousness of the situation. Whatever steps are taken will be sensible steps, and whatever money is spent will be spent in a sensible fashion and on defence that'will be capable of doing the. work'intended to be done."

Mr. Fagan said that at the moment

the question of conversion of commercial aeroplanes into military aeroplanes was being considered. The Government was also considering the training of pilots. At present it cost a pilot £60 or £70 to qualify. He had no inferiority complex as far as New Zealanders were concerned, and he thought that if the Government called for 1000 pilots it would get 2000 or 3000 applications. "I have no inferiority complex about New Zealanders looking after themselves," he said.

Mi-. Perry said that, in view, of the fact that the subject had been well ventilated, he would withdraw his motion.