NEW ZEALAND'S DUTY.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 252, 16 July 1915, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND'S DUTY.

(To the Editor)

Sir, —-On 9th July Lord Kitchener said to the people of Britain “the vital need was more and still more men,” and yet they must have somewhere about 3,000,000 men under arms. To do her share on a population basis New Zealand should have 75,000. Sh e has 25,000 only. At the same time (including these) the men net required to produce and export our primary products number at least 75,000. So that apart from any question of what is her fair share New Zealand can spare another 50,000 at once. And yet on 13th July the Minister said: “He hoped there would be no attempt to interfere with the well-thought-out scheme (i.e., for the present reinforcements). H e would lay on the table a memorandum on the whole subject by the Chief of the General Staff.” In that memorandum it is stated: “We have to prepare for a ■war which maj r last for three years. It w r ould be an everlasting disgrace to New Zealand if before the war came to an e nd she had to confess that she could not maintain her Expeditionary Force in the field. The honour of putting a larg e number of units into the field at the on e tim e would b e forgotten in the failure to maintain them there. We must prepare for a long war and it is essential that we should count the cost, and make sure that our resources of men are organised in such a manner as to last to the finish. New Zealand must not b e exhausted before peac e has been declared.”

Sir, this is rank heresy, and notwithstanding the great respect the country, has for its author in his military capacity, and notwithstanding that it was put forward by the Minister, it must be utterly repudiated by th e country. Kitchener wants men. What on earth does it matter whether we can keep up our separate unit or not? For th e sake of that unit we are asked to refuse to send men.

The plain fact is that th e country is getting no lead on the matter, and that if we, th e people, do not instantly bestir ourselves we shall go down to history with an everlasting disgrace upon our name. We have not provided more than one man for Britain’s three; we have not sha.red or offered to share the extra cost of the war over and above men; and now when the Mother Country is making an unrestricted call on her own sons we are asked to hang back. The memorandum was obviously prepared weeks ago, and is out of date on an absolutely vital point. It states “the Imperial Government up to the present has requested that all men . . should take rifles with them from New Zealand.” Yet'weeks, ago “ a reply came (i.e., from England that if New Zealand sent tbp men to England they would arm them with rifles” (the Minister on Ist July). New Zealan?i rpfusod. “The reason for that was that if we were to send men to train m Fryfland they would receive Imperial rates of pay and Imperial pensions, and therp would be % serious conflict between the New Zealand and Brit-

ish sections.” If the British authorities ar e satisfied to receive the men and arm them, wha validity is there iu the objection? The plain fact stands out that Kitchener has offered to arm the men w e send and we won’t send them. How many men has France put in the field? Every available man. Has sh e held her men back from arming so that they can become reinforcements in two years? There would be no France to-day if sh e had adopted any such folly. And if w e do we may become a Germany colony. Let the generals on th e spot arrange the reinforcements when we have supplied the armed men. If need be abandon our distinctive New Zealand unit. But for God’s sake, citizens of New Zealand, sweep aside the present tangle and insist that New Zealand shall press on to send forward in the next six months at least 50,000 men.—l am, etc., S. A. ATKINSON, 14th July, 1915.