The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1900. COLONIAL SELF-DEFENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 42, 21 February 1900, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1900. COLONIAL SELF-DEFENCE.

In common with the rest of the world I New Zealand is beginning to realise ' the possibility of England being in- I volved in Buch complications with other 1 Powers as may bring about universal . war. It is true that we are far away ' from the centre of such an oustreak, i but, remote as we are, once the *:. ;m i breaks its fury will reach to the uMer- i most parts of the earth, and our fair i land will in more or less degree feel the i rage and the fury that will follow. It 1 is with a view to preparing for these i contingencies that a determined effort ' is heing made to set the defences of the - colony in order and readiness. This is i being done in two ways: the first by < forcing the Government to attend to ; defence matters that have for a long time past been neglected, and secondly ' by the increase in the number and : strength of our volunteer corps. There is no disposition to allow the Govern- ; ment to shirk their obvious duty in this matter; and we can safely assume that, whatever may have been the case : until recently, public opinion is now too strong and insistent to allow the folly of the past to ba repeated or per- ' petuated. Volunteering is, however, a matterthat primarily depends upon the people rather than the Government, tor although " the powers that be " can i very largely assist, or if opposed to the , movement equally largely discourage, ' it is quite witbin thb means and power i of the people to largely augment the : number of volunteers and also their efficiency. Dealing with this : question, Colonel Morris makes i the following pertinent remarks i in the Dunedin Evening Star: — i " Some may yet mock at the thought of : danger, and I have no doubt that the inhabitants of Manila a couple of years ago would have laughed to scorn the idea of an invasion. Since then they have suffered from blockado and loss of trade, with its consequent scarcity and famine prices. If the public will awake to its duties and responsibilities we shall have no more of the difficulties in filling up volunteer companies, defective attendance at drill, and want of interest in defence questions. If high, and low —the merchant and the artisan, the station-holder and the rabbiter—will one and all take their share, the tone and status of the volunteers, both officers and men, will vastly improve. It is not, froicever, in the chief cities of New Zealand alone ilu.it men and arms are wanted; the country districts must also be prepared to take their tHiare in defending the unprotected shores of the colony. To my mind it is a fatal mistake to neglect the country corps and the defence of the long, unprotected coasts of the colony, which, with its many bays and easy landing places, would simply render nugatory all the preparations made for the defence of the large cities. Colonel Fox in his report for 1893 says:—'Attack by a number of ships composed partly of cruisers and partly of privateers, together with landing of men from transports, becomes almost a certainty. Oar watchfulness will have to be redoubled, and our defences must be in such a state that we can ward off such attacks with ease'; and, further, such attack 'is generally admitted to be what the colonies must guard themselves against.' How is such defence to be undertaken if wedeyote all our money and energy solely to the protection of the four chief cities?' I would propose ihp raising of companies or troops of mounted rifles along the line of railways, which would thus ' be linker] together by rail and wire. Supposing in each of the cities of Invercargill, Dunedin, and {Jaroaru, two such troops were raised (io the South- ] land Hussars, the Otago Hussar?, Rud JJertJj Otago Mounted R'>ihs, this number are fshdy to liar:<i), and one each f il 7> 6ore » JUlelutua, Milton. YVaikouaiti, Pi!."ners-|tot> on the Hue of nil,'and at Nawl'y, Lawrence, Tapsnui, and liiversdale on the branch line.', and <ach tioop consisted of sixty men, exclusive of oijicers and non-com-missioned officers, or, say, seventy, including theso, this would'give a total of 980 to 1000 men and officers—a nucleus which, in tijae of war, could easily bo doubled arid yet be effective, 'as one-half would ba fully trained, I Surely these country towns .and their environs could easily supply t'.'.b nam,ber. I am iufoimod hy nhoee who ■ U>ught to know that I am mistaken—that it would bo ini|K.s-:i>>lu to raise anything like the number unless Government paid them for every drill or exercise they attended, and even then it would be difficult- to ke."p the tror.p up to full strength. Now, I think ' better of young New ZeaLnd. I know that if war were declared, &vA an in- 1 vssion of our country imiiiinynt. five' times the number of men I now w:ict[ would bo nagor to oiler their service."-- j services which, owiog to r!v;ir want of 1: training, would Iw of li-tio uviil f..i|J thuir country. I fee! sum tint a!: thai; is necessary i-i k> iuip";.-;-; f.iu-. \\ fact on the (-qimtrei'S ana 'iVrifn,•''.■( !'•» J) (tt'cni to recognise its tru'Jj. aa.i <,#■!■/; I their .servir.es now whilst thorj is yri,; (time to make them workioanliko »r,d j;. I useful soldiers. The material is lying ( i

dormant in our farms and stations;! what is wanted is to get at it and stir! it up now whilst we are at peace—in war time it would be stirred up with a vengeance, but it would then be too , I late. Let the Government stir them up now, and call for recruits, and if they don't respond—why, they are not worth calling! But they will respond if the necessity for the step is laid plainly before them, or I am terribly mistaken in the manhood of New Zealenders. Until called upon the martial spirit which exists in most men will not show itself. On every occasion of danger, volunteers must be called for first, and then there is seldom any difficulty in getting as many as are wanted. This, of course, refers to catching the recruit, but it is equally important to keep him when you get him. This is the difficulty volunteer officers sigh over. They no sooner get a recruit and epend much labor and trouble in licking him into shape, when he tires of drill and returns his uniformjnto store! Now for mounted rifles. Their drill should be of the slightest, but their exercises should be made most interesting—so much so ' that instead of tiring they would look forward to their next outing. During the Indian Mutiny numbers of irregular cavalry regiments were raised, armed, and taking full duty in the course of a few weeks. I was myself acting adjutant of one such corps; and thoroughly effective troops they made. So with Lee's Confederate Cavalry—they were raised and at work in a few i weeks. The marvellous feats they performed and the service they rendered ' their side are now matters of history, I In both these cases the men enlisted ' were used to riding and the manage- , ment of horses; and surely we have i farmers and farmers' sons and many others who own a good nag—to say ■ nothing of young merchants, bankers, i and tradesmen who can and do afford to ; keep a horse. From this class the i mounted rifles should be recruited, and ; they would thus become a corps d'elite i —a fact which would in itself help to i fill their ranks." So far as Taranaki is • concerned there is no reason why the i scheme outlined by Colonel Morris ; for Otago should not be applicable. ■ There is no immediate necessity 1 for deciding right off' the class of corps > to be raised, as this could be done - after various companies had been eni rolled, and when the circumstances of s provincial or colonial requirements, ) rather than mere local conveniences, ' were bettor known. For instance, it i will probably be found advisable later • on to form a Naval Brigade at New i Plymouth for coast defence purposes, j but this is impossible at present, owing , to there being no machine guns or i other artillery available, but when such i guns are obtainable the new Taranaki , Guards could converted into ■ an efficient navafbr artillery corps, ) instead of the delay that would take > place had such a corps to be raised from ; raw material. At any rate, enrolment i and elementary traiuing are the first ; steps in any scheme of colonial defence, ■ andp'lfheee, as we have already ret marked, can be takin by the people ) themselves. ■ '-•■■'