The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 1913. THE TERRITORIALS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 255, 18 March 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 1913. THE TERRITORIALS.

The speech made Ly Lord Roberts ;it Wolverhampton, as cabled yesterday, ought to do something at least towards silencing the opposition of the few passive resistors who are eking out a lingering existence in the limelight of tiie courts hi New Zealand. Lord Roberts, and probably no general, with the exception of Lord Kitchener, can speak with a wider or a more expert knowledge of the "grim dogs of war." states explicitly that the second line of defences of the Empire is unsatisfactory, and he appeals for a completion of the Territorial system at Home by a demand for personal service. ]f, us he contends, the unpreparedness to adjust the European balance of power in Napoleonic times has cost £(iOO.UOu.U<JU it is time that the British 1 taxpayer sat up and though vigoron.-!y. Our navy admittedly is strong enough both now and prospectively to protect our trade router,, but, as Lord. Roberta points out. apart from our army garrisons, only the Territorials are left to protect <'i'cat I'.rilain's shores. Then his remarks become extremely significant, and are worthy of the emphasis of reproduction. Says he: "No genera', except in the direst extremity, would bad tiie Territorials against European forces, merely to become food for shrapnel. When l-JtU'W) French ill-trained levies met 5000 disciplined Cermans. CO.OOO were killed. wounded or prisoners in three days, nrd the remainder were panic-stricken. The lialkan War v.'.k another lesson of insufficient frainine. Lord ITaldane had suggested that tee Territorials would grow more effective every day when facing the enem>. '."t i'liw livny day.-, did Lor:! llahlane iiiia.">e the force would exist'.' It would ee dei-lmated bv long-range Pre from practiced marksmen, ft daunted the heart of any experienced soldier to

contemplate .the fate of such an army. In a. citizen army, merit ami character should decide who were to he officers."

Ot course, the moral of this is that we must have personal service and wholehearted voluntary service at that. Our own system of training is an excellent one, even though it hardly goes far enough, and while tlie British temperament revolts at conscription and against compulsory service, of the Herman and French nature, it has to he admitted that the armies'of these countries are a lesson to the world in their completeness and effectiveness. Britain's navy is, of course, a striking example of a phenomenal first line of defence, and the sea remains her inalienable ally for all time, but this does not preclude the necessity for seeing that her land forces are put upon a solid and substantial basis. Tennyson has told us, with an exaggerated emphasis that is not wholly deserved. that were a foreign army to threaten the shores of the Motherland, every tradesman would leap from behind his counter and "strike, were it but with his yard-wand home." ' This is an admirable illustration of the spirit of Empire, but as Lord Roberts, in effect, points out, that particular yard-wand would be but a poor weapon unless the owner were properly trained to use, it for defensive purposes as well as for the measurement of earfco. Regular and systematic training is the only remedy for.this disability in the defence of the Empire, and if the British spirit is to be maintained in the wholesome entirety that has pertained to it for so many hundred years, it can only be done by a strong appreciation of personal responsibilities.