NATIONAL DEFENCE LEAGUE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 20 April 1907, Page 4

NATIONAL DEFENCE LEAGUE.

To the Editor. ISiIV—As one interested in the doings of the above league i must- confers to being disappointed at the meeting recently hold in New X'iymouth—that ;s, per press reports; i expected to hear of some improvement upon the scheme or the methods that obtain at I lie present time. At the .-anie time it is pleading to note timL the noeu of preparing our country for eventualitie- is being brought to public notice. Of course, it would )>c better if the Peace Society's programme ly arbitration could be enforc-

«'<l l>ut uutil (here i- a better prospect of tliat i'nd living obtained it behoves us as a budding nation to prevent all possibility of our country and its inhabitants becoming sunjeet to some foreign power. It is all very well to call the British Empire into the question—as it is it is a rather rotten stick ,o reply on and always will be until its Outposts are in a position not only to look after themselves but to assist the parent trunk. Now, 1 should like the following questions answered by some! of the supporters of uie League, believing it will tend to show that the preent system of defence; is nought but a huge expensive sham and also that if we want to be left severely aione a better system of being able to repel attack must' be inaugurated:— (1) What is the use of spending large sums of money in drilling ami equipping companies of volunteers to protect our cities or our coast iinc wli l n the battleships now in course of bnildintr could remain specks on the ocean and yet knock any of the larger places to smithereens besides laying the whole of the coastline of the colony a barren waste for a distance of 10 or 12 miles inland? Taranaki's seaboard for instance couhl he ravaged but that mustn't matter so long as the big city is pro- | tected! Nevertheless the whole of the colony could be laid under tribute by such warships. Our forts (such as they are or likely to be) are simply useless and our trained volunteers under arms to fight an enemy sto 10 miles at sea. Where is the sense of it? (2). What is to prevent such warships with their huge crews forcing a landing of men at any place they deem fit—the coalfields of the colony for instance? Are we prepared to spend enormous sums of money at each piace to build forts strong enough to defy such floating batteries as are at present building? Could it be done anywhere? (3). Are we training cadets the use of arms so that they are to he drafted to other parts of the world to fight at ihe Empire's call —as per the Boer war, ior instance —so that the money grab-

liing capitalist and none other may reap ; benefit? Far better to encourage the |, formation of rifle clubs in each road (lis- , trict, create a spirit of rivalry for trophy records between each club! It , takes some time to train to handle a rifle—what matter the dress or the drill; one can do just as good service and can die as well in dungaree as in kliarki. Why go to useless expenditure in finding gaudy uniforms etc., when the cash could be better spent in guns and ammunition for rifle clubs, in providing as many as possible of up to date submarines and training crews for such and also in providing unlimited number of materials for mines and teaching the art of making and laying? A simple means o£ defence and who will gainsay its effectiveness—a coast bristling with mines and submarines as a protection would be severely left alone. A weak spot may be found but men used to the country and who could make each bullet tell could be concentrated at that spot, but going as we are a' great part of tiie country is left unprotected and it must be apparent that the trained volunteers would be rushed here and there to no good purpose; and when massed at any one place could be decimated without) hurting one of the enemy. Does it not seem ridiculous to waste large sums of monev in such system of defence? As "to battleships of the British navy is it not a well-known fact that suffici- | ent men are not available to man them i and that in the event of war where arc they to get the necessary trained men to work the huge floating machine batteries? In kelson's time the blacksmith. the farmer, the carpenter, or the tailor could lw useful on board ship and pressgangs were not particular whom they grabbed,'so long as he was a man be could do his part at viose quarters; can the same means apply now-a-flays? I suppose models of machine guns could be obtained and the youth of tne future, and of to-day for the matter of that, trained to work and thoroughly understand them so that if need be ihey would not lie altogether raw material. That 'trouble is brewing, there is little doubt. When a big country like Germany gets its commerce clipped, as it will be when John Hull's family decline to have their manufactures, we shall know then all about who is 'mistress of the sea" and "ru'.er of the world" and such like humbug and who will say what part of the Empire will have to look to itself? It may be ourselves! Ido not know what New Zealand's defence bill is, or lias been. but it must run into big figures, and it is little good it is doing; the sooner the money is diverted 'to a practical use instead of an ornamental one the better. Also the quicker the general public take to studying the efficiency of the present system the sooner they will demand a sweeping change and that 'there is urgent need for so doing is the firm conviction of yours, etc., JOE. B. SIMPSON. Makctawa, April 17. .