Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1939. NEW ZEALAND’S WAR EFFORT.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 September 1939, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1939. NEW ZEALAND’S WAR EFFORT.

+ AN impression to some extent erroneous in detail may have V been created by a broadcast from Daventry yesterday to the effect that “New Zealand has offered a fully-equippec c ivi.' , for service in any part of the world.” The aetua position s that the Dominion’s war preparations are proceeding stead 5 and methodically on the lines set forth by the Actin o -Inme Minister (Mr Fraser) in the House of Representatives last week The first section of the Special Force, numbering 6,600 men, is about to enter camp and further bodies ol mentaie to follow in accordance with a regular and preariang? ] < • The facts of the position were summed up by Mr hiasei wncn he said yesterday: — The preparations that are being made here are certainly such as will enable a division to be made available m due course, either tore o “broad 1„ any part o£ the world it »hen‘hec.rcumstances require it, but the announcement (mentioned above) is sXly a deduction from my statement that all our resources are at the disposal of the United Kingdom, and the position has not changed since I made my statement in Parliament. That the position of the Dominions is understood and grasped clearly in Britain is indicated in some observations by the London “Times” quoted in one of today’s cablegrams. Having said that it is in the air that the Dominions can immediately be most useful, “The Times” adds: v The Dominions, especially Australia and New Zealand, must make certain that they will not be attacked before denuding themselves of trained defenders, but it is safe to forecast that wherever a decisive conflict is fought, Dominion forces will play the same distinguished part as they did 25 years ago. Success depends almost as much on supplies as on man-power, and here the Dominions are well to the fore. Their unanimity is a guar,, for victory. With the unanimous support of Parliament and people, New Zealand, like other Empire countries, is pledged to a fullpowered effort in the war, but the lines on which that eltoi may best be shaped with advantage to the Allied cause are as yet by no means fully defined. Not one, but a number of important questions arise in this connection 1 . A great deal must depend, lor example, on tie course of events on the Western front. If the outcome ol the war were destined to be determined by a comparatively early and decisive conflict in that theatre, the problems confronting this country and other Dominions would be simplified veiy considerably. The possibility appears, however, that the struggle for supremacy in the fortified Franco-German borderlands may develop slowly, over an extended period. A writer in. the London “Sunday Times” is quoted today as stating that the Siegfried Line, though not as strong or as favourably placed as the Maginot Line, is far stronger than any German fortified position in the last war and that : Any policy of mass frontal attack would be'exactly what Germany would wish, and would be unlikely to lead to victory quickly or slowly.” The possibilities here tentatively touched upon have their obvious bearing on the question of the manner in which New Zealand and other Dominions may best contribute to an Allied victory. So, too, have various • important questions of international relationship, and of possible extensions of the war which as yet are unsettled. Fortunately New Zealand, with other Dominions, is in a position, while making a direct and immediate contribution to the victory of the Allied cause, to engage also in energetic and methodical preparations which will enable her to meet any one of a number of demands the war conceivably may raise—amongst them the possibility, mentioned by “The ’Times,” of having to withstand attack upon her own territory.