FALSE SENSE OF PEACE.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 May 1920, Page 6

FALSE SENSE OF PEACE.

SIR JAMES ALLEN'S WARNING. NO FAITH IN LEAGUE OF NATIONS. ■Wellington. Yesterday. Sir James Allen was the guest of tiio New Zealand Club at luncheon in the YOiI.C.A, rooms yesterday. The occasion was marked by a particularly large gathering of members, over which Mr. W. -\l. J'age, vice-president of the club, presided. Sir James Allen wns greeted with loud and prolonged applause. He eonlined himself to the subject of defence There had,' lie said been no better advertisement for New Zealand than the doings of the N.Z. Expeditionary I'orce and the character and the attitude of the inen who composed its strength. Sir James Allen continued that a little more preparation on the part of the British would have i-aved an enormous number of lives. In this connection lie pointed out that we were very apt to think that because the war was over and the League of Nations formed that we had secured peace for all time. This was a false sense of Security. No one would be moro delighted to he nhle to wipe out the Defence Department than himself, but preparedness could not in the light of the present trend of world events be relegated to the past. The refusal of America to come into the League of Nations had created an extraordinary position. There were, unfortunately, good reasons for entertaining groat doubt as to the efficacy of the League. Indeed, the League itself made provision for force to be use if one of the nations did not obey the dictntes of the others. Who wiis to provide this force? The onus would fall on the constituent members of the League. Fitch nation would have to contribute its share of men and arms. We could not therefore settle down and think ourselves secure. We insured our property and our lives. Wa9 it not worth while to insure our .criuntry and our Empire? The only insurance we could place on our country was to bring up our young men healthy and vigoroua, mentally and physically, and,{live them also a certain amount of basic training—which we knew now from our military experience need not t:ik» un much t'me—in order enable them to be turned into soldiers in a comparatively short time. Passing on Sir James Allen emphasised the fact that the war had showed us the mistake of not giving sufficient training to our officers and non-commis-sioned officers. Under the old Territorial system we were not fretting the service we should have got fov the amount of money expended, and it behoved us to guard against a repetition of any mistake in this direction -in the future As a last word he dwelt on the necessity of the Dominion helping the Mother Country to keep her naval power supreme, ard in that way ensure that our roads of communication would always be kept open. Sir James Allen resumed, his seat amid applause, fol-. lowed by three resounding cheers.