LOCAL DEFENCE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 811, 4 August 1870, Page 4

LOCAL DEFENCE.

Qm neighbors of Australia, in anticipation of the period now rapidly approaching when the last of the Imperial troops will be removed from their Colonies, are beginning to consider what method of defence against external aggression they shall adopt when left entirely to their own resources For many years past they have been gradually furnishing themselves with means to repel attack by a hostile power on their principal harbors; they have now heavy artillery in abundance, and have formed the nucleus of a navy; but to utilize the guns and the ship 3 they require men, and whence these are to be derived is the question which now presents itself for consideration. Yoluuteers of course have hitherto been looked to, and the various Governments have spared no expense or trouble to encourage the system, which was to provide defenders jn the hour of need. Victoria has been especially liberal in this respect; in addition to the enormous expenditure .of previous years, the annual sums voted by parliament, and the grants of fifty acres of land to each efficient volunteer who had served a specified time, the sum upon the estimates for volunteering purposes in the present year was Yearly encampments have been formed at great ex pense to encourage the movement. Still, with ail these things, the system does not seem to have proved a success ; it is not accounted worth the money it has cost, and the enquiry is now beginning to be generally made whether it is worth while to continue jt, or if it would not be better to begin afresh, and inaugurate a new one. And if volunteering has failed in Aus tralia, what shall we say of it in New Zealand? Take our own Province for an example—gather all our volun teers together, and what would they do in case of an invasion by a hostile power? We are exposed to every danger from without that the Australian Colonies are liable to —lacking the guns and ships which they possess — and presenting also many more vulnerable points of attack; and in addi tion, we have an ever present source of danger from within, and yet we find ourselves neaily helpless. Our whole attention has, no doubt, been engrossed by the native war, and all our forces, either volunteer or paid, have been raised with a view to contingencies arising out of it; but it is time we began to reflect that there are other dangers which we require to guard against. Even were that war finished to-morrow, the body of 600 men which it is proposed to retain as a permanent force, although they might suffice to maintain internal order, would be utterly useless for any purposes of external defence. We must not satisfy ourselves with ';he belief that international war has become so distasteful to the great powers of the world that they will never again turn their arms against each other ; nor must we fondly imagine that our peaceful and inoffensive character will suffice to protect us from aggression or interference —human nature is not yet changed so much. We have no certainty that we may not find ouiselves by some complication placed in the centre of a*, struggle, and if we are wise we will begin without loss of time to take such measures as will prevent us falling like a helpless prey into the hands of the first who chooses to seize us. Even had we means at our command of keeping a standing army sufficient; for our defence on foot, it is opposed to the instincts of a progressive and active State to maintain a large portion of the population in enforced idleness —a better and far more effective plan would be to devise an efficient system by which the whole of the male population should be trained to arms gradually, and in such a manner that the burden of enforced service would be as lightly felt as possible. We have numerous examples in the history of the old world how small States lying amongst powerful and aggressive neighbors have maintained their independence and their interests intact by wise and close organization among themselves. Switzerland is a case in point, and to a certain extent Prussia. The latter country, by nieaus of her " landwehr," makes thoroughly efficient soldiers out of nearly all her male population, and, after she has relinquished their regular advices, maintains them as a formid-

able corps of reserve. The fruit of this system is that the tone and morale of the German youth is high; and how these citizen soldiers have fought, when occasion called them to the field, it is superfluous to say. Our militia has only bsen an attempt at training the population to arms ; the system is faulty, and will never succeed until it is remodelled. With the rising generation the task might be easily effectedMilitary instruction should form a portion of the education imparted at public schools, and be inculcated as strictly as reaching, or arithmetic. Youths so instructed, when they grew to men's estate, would have nothing to learn in the way of drill or discipline, and an hour or two's attendance in a year, would be all that was requisite to enable them to maintain their position as members of a formidable fighting force. Adopting the usages of Continental Europe might appear harsh and repulsi \ e to our very liberal ideas, but it is the first duty of a free people to learn to defend themselves, without leaning on extraneous aid from any quarter, and the most thorough mode i.f acquiring that knowledge is the best.—'Evening Post.