THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1912. POLITICS AND DEFENCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 22 November 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1912. POLITICS AND DEFENCE.

It must be gratifying to those who have at heart the well-being of New Zealand to find-that: the question of defence has ■ been 'removed entirely from the realm of party politics. When Lord Kitdhener made his recommendations to the Ward Administration, the then Opposition joined ,hslrfcily in the effort to put' them into prompt effect. Since Mr Massey has come : to power; the Opposition have displayed' the same loyal attributes as. did their predecessors. This is.as it should be. The evil effects .of politics Upon national defences is being de? monstrated in the war that is now in progress in Eastern Europe. MajorGeneral Kirkpatrick, Inspector-Gen-eral of the Commonwealth forces, in the course of a recent speech, said it was hard to account for such a loss of efficiency as was revealed in the war until we remembered that less than four years ago the Turkish army became an active participant in politics. "It was probable, therefore, that the Turkish disasters constituted yet another proof of the dry-rofc which.dexfct'oyed any army subject to political influences. The application of 1 this lesson to the Commonwealth was clear. . On the one hand, they saw the value of complete and secret preparations, based on national selfdenial, and on the other the fatal result of political interference in any army.'* A similar reference to the danger of subjecting an army to political influence is contained in a letter written to a Sydney resident By a British,, officer, Who recently visitejl Turkey for the seventh time, on official business. This officer had first sefe.n the Turkish soWter at Plevna,

where the Turks covered themselves with glory, and his recent visit l<?. e t him with the same opinion of Turkish fighting qualities that lie formed in that celebrated campaign. The men to-day, he wrote, were just as good as those in 1877, but "of late the efficiency; of the Army has been undermined by the Parliamentary party; politics have been placing their own personal interests before the country, and the equipment and general organisation of the fighting services have suffered."" The writer hoped that Australia would never allow her Amy and Navy to be subject to political influence.