NATIONAL DEFENCES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8351, 11 February 1913, Page 2

NATIONAL DEFENCES

AN OUTSPOKEN CRITICISM AND SOME DISTURBING REFLEC;y - ■ ' , (By Pieroo O. Frootb.) New Zealand newspapers do not appear to have been much disturbed by l.u; announcement maso in tiio Ausi radian press a few flays ago that as t.ie resuit of a conference in Melkiutue, in which lion. James Alien participated, if has been decided that New Zealand is to haye a fleet; that that fleet is to consist of “two thirdclass cruisers of the Sydney type, three destroyers of the Rarfamatta type, and two submarines”; and that “Oolortel Allen goes to England fully satisfied that New Zealand must have her own warships and that they should work in co-ordination with the Australian fleet.” A Melbourne telegram in the Sydney papers announced that there is no doubt that ' ‘the Admiralty will recommend the establishment of thiai local fleet and that New Zealand will accept the advice.” “These statements were made'with all the assurance of inspiration., and were published with evidences of editorial satisfaction hy the local press. It would seem therefore that New Zealand is being committed,’ without the precaution of preliminary consultation, to a very elaborate programme. The Ministry has taken neither Parliament nor the country into its confidence in regard to this essentially national question, andj although both the Primp Minister and Mr Allcq wore invoked before the latter’s departure for England to, give some indication as to their policy, they were dumb. < Now two other important items of information are vouchsafed to us. One Is that an expeditionary force is sooner or later to be organised; and the other that General Godley projects a, visit, presumably officially and on full pay, to Great Britain. Another arrangement which will vitally affect the whole programme of defence is the projected visit of New Zealand’s battleship to this Dominion. I regret to notice that the discussion of the question of defence has deteriorated into a political wrangle of a peculiarly virulent and parochial character. The matter, is one, however, which is very much more vital bo the country than'the political re, pntations .which it may help to make or break., The great danger is lost .be visit of the battleship may be utilised to provoke an outbreak of perforvid jingoism under cover of which New Zealand may be involved in liabilities and responsibilities far in excess of her means and’ requirements. {’denial Ministers who visit the Old Gauntry invariably find themselves in a superheated atmosphere of jingoism in which even the strongest find it hard to maintain their equilibrium. The most subtle influences are brought inf a play, and the appeal to vanity in the guise of patriotism is so cleverly ins: (ouliitecl that our little statesmen are almost invariably swept, clean off their feet. And there is always the additional incentive of personal aggrandisement in the way of honours and titles which plays havoc with the sternest resolutions of the most honourable and disinterested of our public men. Thus, instead of these grave national questions being dealt with in a spirit of calm deliberateness, our leaders are often carried away by extravagant emotions and impulses. The result is that whole communities become committed to programmes and policies which would ho sure of rejection if submitted to the calm and reasoned judgment of the people as a ■whole. It needs no prophet to foretell that ihe visit of the battleship New Zealand has been deliberately calculated as likely to provide an opportunity for stirring the populace to such a pitch of fervour that there will bo no difficulty ■ in obtaining endorsement for

piost extravagant schemes of moneyspending. Unfortunately no help can be expected from the press in stemming the tide, because at such times the newspapers usually outvie each other in notes of acclamation for any undertaking likely to flatter parochial or national vanity. We shall all forget in that moment that this small community of just over a million of people is already involved 'to the extent of £2 per head for the capital expenditure bn a single Dreadnought; we shall probably overlook also that already we are paying £760,000 annually for paval contributions, interest, compulsory training, etc., and that this expenditure is continually mounting and mounting. Yet when these facts are remembered, it must be evident tq eyeu the most ardent Imperialist and Rig New _ Zealander that there must be a limit beyond which our lilliputian ambition to hold a candle to the universe cannot safely goi This country can no more think of establishing a navy than it can sanely contemplate promoting an aeroplane service to Mars. A tinpot local navy could offer no more resistance to a Japanese armada than a rabbit to a bull-terrier. If it is necessary to make further sacrifices to. the war moloch it must not be by emulating the puny and utterly ineffectual naval method of Australia, but by increasing . bur contribution to the great Imperial fleet in which all our hopes are centred. As to the proposed “expeditionary force” and Major-General Godley’s projected visit to England, I desire, as a born New Zealander, and one who fought hard in the press and on the platform for the compulsory training scheme, to say a few plain words. I assert without fear of contradio, tion that the expeditionary force is a, chimera not worth a moment’s consideration. What wo have got to consider now is not how we are to assemble a regular force for foreign service. —which I personally should oppose to the last gasp—but how we are to save our compulsory training system from the fate with which it is threatened. New Zealanders will awake to the realisation ■ very soon that unless some very ' extraordinary precautions are taken the defence system will break down hopelessly. I stated in Australia and 1 repeat here that our methods have been dictated neither by prudence nor common-sense. When we deported from the scheme laid down by Lord Kitchener wo committed an irreparable blunder. Kitchener insisted that the first principle for the enrolment and maintenance of an efficient citizen force was that the nation as a whole should take a pride in its defenders, insist on the organisation being real and designed for war purposes, and provide the means of properly educating, training and equipping the officers and the men. Ho pointed out carefully that unless these requirements were met no military system could be devised which would bo other than an illusion and a source of waste of public funds. He insisted also that the selection of the annual quotas should be restricted to the physically fittest males of the year, and, therefore, the most eligible for serving their country. If the general’s advice had been followed, New Zealand would have started with not more than 4600 men, and would have increased its force by sevenths eaoH year until a large body of men had been efficiently handled and trained. Instead of that. New Zealand blundered in and enrolled a nominal force of 21,614 Territorials in the first year. This force has increased in something under three years to 26,000, and enrolments are now practically at a standstill. We have spent considerably over a million of money during this period. The result is inefficiency and chaos, and, unless drastic remedial measures are taken we shall presently bo faced with a threatened breakdown of the whole system. The realisation of this must seriously prejudice the question of naval defence. Major-General Godley, the Commandant of the Forces, is a very genial man and loses no opportunity of himself with the populace, but ho has been-too confi-

dent, too ambitious, and lacking both caution and practicability. The result is in a large measure chaos, waste, in. efficiency, and discontent. Over-enrol-ment has fermented resistance which a measure of careful selection would not have induced; and by trying to covertoe much ground over a scattered community the largo staff of imported and local officers has been enormously overworked, diffusing their energies in ef‘fprts which have been largely wasted, and necessarily neglecting such essential undertakings as the establishment of schools of instructisn and training camps. Such of these as have been held have been on a quite inadequate scale. The result of all this is that while .n a few isolated cases the Territorial programme has gone forward with a fair measure of success, the ’scheme as a whole may be said to have broken down, as all military systems will, where the work is congested, where the local officers end non-coms, are inefficient' because untrained, and where no general provision has been made for rifle ranges, drillsheds, ambulance corps, and equipments, and all those things which in Kitchener’s phrase constitute “an organisation real and designed for war purposes.” _ New Zealand's Territorial system is, in fact, a complete negation of everything which the General laid down in his master# memorandum. . In face of conditions such as these it is merely playing with the public credulity to talk about expeditionary forces, and it is extraordinary that Major-General Godley (just back from a holiday jaunt on full pay to the Commonwealth; should contemplate a similar excursion to England. My contention is that no possible service to New Zealand can attend a visit of the Commandant to England. It is equally clear that in view of the facts which 1 have outlined—and which I am prepared to prove to demonstration—that Major-General Godley owes it to hia reputation to stay in New Zealand and try and restore order out of the chaos which has resulted from a departure from Lord Kitchener’s scheme. If New Zealand cannot be defended by a force, of citizen soldiers adequately trained, armed, and equipped, then nil the money wo have spent and are to supend on compulsory training has been simply flung away. If our citizen soldiers can be made effective for the defence of the country, then we shall not require a local navy and all that that necessitates and implies in waste and sacrifice. New Zealand, with its small isolated population, cannot bear the intolerable burden of an army and a navy ,and tbo sooner oar rulers and governors recognise this the better. Meantime we shall be much better employed in gravely facing the conditions as they actually -exist than in raising a hue and cry for merely parochial political purposes. This is a limb for courage and outspokenness if national purposes are to bo served.