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Hokitika Guardian, 30 August 1933, Page 4

Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond addressed the Royal Empire Society’s summer school on “Imperial Strategy,” keeping the subject within technical bounds. He said that in Imperial defence the principle of securing all the individual territories against invasion was an entirely mistaken one. They should begin by concentrating upon the safety of their communications and the other would then follow. On this point it must be remembered that .a smaller navy than one’s own could gravely injure communications; for a much larger navy was required for defence than for attack, although to carry out an invasion it was necessary to have a navy superior to that of the enemy, lie thought it was important for the scattered Dominions to realise that, •even if they were to devote the utmost they could .afford to land defence against invasion, they would not strengthen their security hut weaken it because the money thus spent would be taken away from the sea force which protected communications and which alone could maintain tbe security of the Empire. There wore two opposing views on this question of Imperial defence. One was that the defence of the Empire should bo con-

side red as a whole. The other view was that each unit of the Empire should consider its own individual dangers and provide such forces as it could to secure it against them; a system of 'lmperial defence would then concern itself with co-ordinating these various units. He believed that this second view was entirely wrong because itproduced a. local outlook. They could not have economy of effort without unity of effort, and unity of effort was impossible without unitv of aim. The problem of defence should, thei’efore, be regarded as a whole and the peoples of the Empire brought to realise their community of interest.