THE ARMY AND NAVY.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 299, 1 August 1929, Page 3

THE ARMY AND NAVY.

LORD PLUMER ON THE SERVICE Replying to the toast of “The Services” at the Royal Academy, banquet, Lord Pluraer said that all three services had three main characteristics in gomroon: Firstly, readiness to act; secondly, restraint; and, thirdly, in combination -with the other two, a very high standard of individual conduct and behaviour, which had earned for them respect whenever they had been, not only in distant parts of the Empire, but also in foreign lands. He would give just three illustrations of those characteristics. The first one illustrated the restraint, which took place in 1922, when our naval and military forces were in occupation of the Dardanelles and the Straits of Constantinople. He had no hesitation in saying, without going into the details of the situation, which had been graphically described in Mr Winston Churchill’s latest book, that he believed that the restraint exerted by cur troops at Chanak could not have been shown by any other troops lhi world. It saved us from a conflict, , ae consequence of which it was impossible to estimate. With regard to readiness to act. there was the transportation by the j Air Force of many hundreds of resi- j dents and officials from the danger | zone of Afghanistan into India: There ' was no question if that had not been

| done events might have occurred in Afghanistan which would have made military intervention on our part inevitable. That operation was remarkable not only for the promptitude and efficiency, but also for the calm, matter-of-fact way in which it was carried out. The third illustration testified to all three cb- '•acteristics—readiness to act, restraint, -nd good behaviour—and that was the situation now in China. It was sufficient y serious as , it was, and gave rise to anxiety still. | There was no doubt whatever that but j for the behaviour of our forces on I the spot we would by now hake been j involved in military operations on a j large scald entailing much loss of life j and very great expenditure, 1 That was carried out as it had been because the system of discipline in the services was not dependent on any Act of Parliament or force or fear of j pa ns nad penalties, but were based on ! mutual respect and confidence between superiors and subordinates. Discipline obtained by force became weaker as t me went on, and. was apt to snap in an emergency. The other i kind grew stronger as time went on, and was strongest in times of emer- ' gencyl They all knew that. If they j were to maintain that high standard j of d scipline and conduct the services must be supplied with a personnel t.> 1 whom that discipline cou d be applied and who would apply it to themselves. They wanted men of integrity, inte ligence, and character. |