NATIONAL DEFENCE.

Evening Star, Issue 14931, 18 July 1912, Page 8

NATIONAL DEFENCE.

[Contributed.] Tn discussing the problem of National Defence the geographical situation of our long white, clcad is generally overlooked, ako our extensive littoral, with its good harbors at frequent intervals, our splendid steam coal depofcits. and our vsat stores of provisions. Sew Zealand i« an ideal naval ••nd military hnse for any nation having desii!i".'.3 upon the Pacific. Our coast not "be fortified so as to preclude a landing.'; -nd anv fight we put up would have to bo; subsequent thereto. The question may be\ then asked: "Is the' country worth defen.lin."''" A traitor would at once say "No,"'but even- oth?r soul in the Dominion would answer "To the last ditch!'' Can wo rclv upon the. at»surancc_ of the superior per-on that war is an impo-ssi-bilitv'.' Here at le:ist we can exercise our common sense. We s'-o Germany with an arnu- of hiuie pro|»rtion3—said to be. .billed disciplined, and tuned up to the pi>eh of perfection, and capable of being, mobilised within 48 hours; wo mark her rapid increase in first-class battloihips, her_ ambition to rival our Empire at sea ; we' note her commerce, her ever-increasing population, and her demands for territory, ymelv her able statesmen must have some oi-ieaive. some well defined policy in which armament plays a leading part! C-icat ]>ritain has gathered in all the loose ends of the earth, and bais tho way to Cermanv (by that nation the is termed "The Beadle or" the tieaii"). Even if Germany made a dash for somo of the South , American Kepubl.cs, it is que.st.ior.euie whether we v,ould stand clear. The North Sea is humming like, a hive of angry bees." It is hoirible to contemplate a 'conilict with Germany, but when two great nation* play poker with battleship chips anything may happen, and Happen quick! With submarines, aerials, and nn>dc::i haig-r.oigo fire, the naval battle of tho futuro will bo an awe-inspiring and ghat-Uy *q;;-i"t»-.'le. If we have a check, tltets i<> | nothing to prevent, a raid in force being made In southern wateu", and tho first cards bit will bo on our own coast. Proceeding to deal with my subject, my first disLaixl diem weakness) is the irreverent person who advises us to rely solely upon fiio Aiusighty ; my next, the idealist comrade who is opposed to ovorything (in-, cir.din- horse bunsv) ; my third, the vain persoiAvho seeks notoriety in the bubbling lead font of the monotype ; and my last discard is the. man wdio talks such ttoaeon;u.le and disloyal trash that he might fairly bo credited with receiving a wvlldirecLcd 3Cs a week of alien secret servico iiionry. Universal service was inevitable if we oruposed to put up a good fight. Parliament realised' thai training and discipline wore both essential, and that if our citizen armv was known to be efficient weminhtbe spared the horrors of an invasion. It was in .i uav a national insurance for national safety. I wonder if fome of our good friends wlio aro opposed to our (system can realise tho result of success attaining their efforts, or how bitterly they might he cursed by the | men who would be butchered for want of tho training they would deny them! Surely thero is nothing offensive in the compulsion that trains a man to protect iris own life whilst he shields the country that bred him, and maybe the mother who bore him ! The vast majority of the citizens of this wonderful little country of ours regard with approbation and pride tho men of the Territorial Forces—they rightly do not recognise them as pressed men, but look on them as men who are learning to play the sternest of all games as it ought to be played (there is only one method). Constant reference is being made to the Quakers. There is no more honorable man i than a Quaker, no better citizen. I note : that no protest comes from him, and I am j certain that he is not grateful to the j speakers and writers who make an unau- i thorised use of his sect in order to sound | a platitude. There arc other in I an army than the firing line—places that J call for"equal heroism and courage ; and a j verv wide gulf divides tho Quaker from tho i emitter. | It is nausea tins to read some of tho cor- I rcspondence in the columns, of the Press and tho reports of some of the speakers } who abu.-e the license- giv?n to them by a j toierr.nt public, and wo want no overllow ' of the uoiueuise-inoiigers from neighboring cities.