THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1908. THE EMPIRE'S ARMIES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3073, 18 December 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1908. THE EMPIRE'S ARMIES.

Whatever truth there may prove to be in the recent cable message that Lord Kitchener is to be appointed Field-marshall and specially commissioned to co-operate with the colonies in consolidating the Empire's land forces in ca3e of war, such a course as is indicated would have much to commend it. When the Colonial Conference of six years ago met in London the then Conservative Government proposed a hard and fast agreement by the colonies to provide a certain number of men for the Imperial army and keep them in readiness to join it. As that would have meant being drawn into what Sir Wilfrid Laurier has 'called "the

vortex of European militarism," it is not surprising that the suggestion was promptly and emphatically put aside by the colonial delegates. There would be all the difference, however, between the British armv being made an Empire concern in that way and the arrangement which is foreshadowed by the cable. If the Empire were threatened every part of it, however remote, would be concerned equally with every other. What more practical and prudent than that all the various countries should consult with a view to ascertain by what means they could best put their force into operation as parts of a united whole? None of them need in that case be apprehensive that it would risk its individuality or take the chance of becoming politically embroiled through military absorption ; and at the same time each would be doing the best for itself by doing it for the Empire. A great military expert like Lord Kitchener ought to be able to give most valuable advice toward this end, and the Empire might do far worse than consult him on the subject.