FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 384, 19 June 1928, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN.”

MR. HEENEY “Thomas Heeney, author,” is now writing articles for the San Francisco newspapers on Tom Heeney, boxer. Thomas denies that Tom arrived in America with only a nickel in his pocket, and without an overcoat. He says Tom has 400 dollars and a leatherlined coat. If Tom defeats Tunney, he will be “right in the boom” and probably be engaged to lecture on the classics at Harvard University, with a tour to follow, lecturing on the poetry of Keats and Shelley. If he is defeated, he will slump. In America they worship success. They have no time for failures. ” HAZARDS" “Hazards” (which means gambling with dice) is well named. The Dalmatians who played the game in a gambling den on Saturday night hazarded more than they were prepared to bet. Twenty of them contributed £l7O In fines. A hazardous business —and they will probably return to “hazards” to hazard what they have left trying to get back what they lost.

AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE

The recent departure from England for Australia of two new submarines, to be followed by that of H.M.A.S. Australia and H.M.A.S. Canberra, led the “British Australian and New Zealander” to present some aspects of Australian defence. Stating that the Commonwealth appears to regard submarines and aircraft as the principal and best means of defence, the article sees difficulties. Submarines, above all, need exceedingly well-trained crew's of specialists, requiring far longer periods of training than the crews of surface craft. In Australia it is very hard to get youths to sign for longer than five years, as they cannot get pensions, and after five years they have good prospects of getting positions ashore or on merchant ships, which they would not be likely to secure later on. This means that soon after they became good submarine men they would leave the service. Submarines are also criticised as too slow for the defence of so vast a coastline as that of Australia. In regard to aircraft, it is maintained that their fightin efficiency against moving warships has not yet been proved. It is pointed out that if a raider was reported to be, say, 650 miles from a seaplane base, it would take a bombing plane eight hours to reach the spot, and at least another hour or two to discover where the ship had sailed to in that time. INVASION IMPROBABLE

Is Australia in any danger of ever being invaded? Another writer in England thinks not. Commenting on the decreased immigration to Australia and New Zealand, he asks does it matter. If Australia is in danger of having territory taken from her, or undesirables forced upon her, should she not add to her population at a faster rate than she is doing now, it matters very much. For the writer’s part he does not believe that this danger exists, or that, if it did, it could he averted by adding 100,000 a year to the population by settlement from abroad instead of 50,000 or 30,000. The natural rate of increase by excess of births over deaths —13.9 a thousand —is one of the highest in any country in the world, greater than that of Japan and Italy, both of them high, and more than double that of England and Wales. He believes also that the six million people who now inhabit Australia are capable of holding it against any unprovoked attack. It required the whole strength of the British Empire strenuously exerted for a couple of years, with no interference on land or sea from any other nations, to subdue the Boers, who probably at no time had as many as 60,000 men in the field, and it is not believed that any foreign nation, fight-

ing thousands of miles from its home base, could subdue Australia, whose soldiers would soon number 600,000 if the need arose. Nor is it believed that, unless extreme provocation is given by Australia, she is liable to attack, and it is most unlikely that such provocation will be given. A certain amount of risk may attach to her' White Australia policy, but it has too many sympathisers outside the British Empire, as well as within it, for her to be left without allies In case of war with an Asiatic power on this question; and that any Asiatic power contemplates or desires war, in order to force its people upon Australia, or to annex part of the continent to itself, is unproved or improbable.