Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1941. WAR AT OUR DOORS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 December 1941, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1941. WAR AT OUR DOORS.

THOUGH it is of great importance, the decision to reorganise and expand the National Military Heserve, announced by the Minister of Defence (Mr Jones), no doubt is only one of a number of measures which will be taken now that we are at war with a strong naval Power in the Pacific as well as with the European Axis nations. In common with other Empire and Allied countries in the Pacific, New Zealand plainly must look very seriously to its defences and by no means exclude the possibility that it may be called upon directly to defend its own territory.

Some authorities of standing have expressed an opinion that the war between Japan and the democracies wifi be fought mainly at sea, by ships and shipborne aircraft. This broad generalisation, however, evidently is subject to material ieseivations. At the moment of writing, land fighting is in progress in Malaya and that territory is threatened with further invasion by way of Thailand. There are some reports, too not as yet clearly authenticated —of Japanese parachute landings, . coordinated with fifth column activities, in parts of the 1 hilippines. As a matter of prudence and loresight, any countiy bordering on the Pacific is bound to take account of the possibility of attacks or raids by seaborne forces. The fact that the Japanese opened the Avar with a vilely treacherous but enteiprising air attack on the great American naval and air base in Hawaii is highly suggestive.

The Australian Government, we are told in a message from Melbourne, takes the view that the Pacific war is not an incident in a general Avar, but is itself a new Avar. t his is a question of academic rather than practical interest. The British Pacific Dominions obviously are concerned vitally both in the Avar as it had developed prior to the entry of Japan and in the extension of hostilities into our own area which has resulted from that entry. We are called upon for an increased and intensified effort commensurate with the, additional menace by which we are now faced.

It presumably may be taken for granted that the organisation, not only of the National Military Reserve, but of all branches of the defence of the Dominion, from and including that of the Territorial Force, will now be reviewed. Not only the Territorials and the National Defence Reserve, but the Home Guard and the Emergency Precautions Services must be raised to the highest practicable standard of efficiency and preparation.

While it is the duty of every citizen to play the part for which he is best fitted and most needed, it is very definitely to be doubted whether a continuance of voluntary enlistment for home defence service can any longer be justified.. . The Minister of Defence has stated that the recruiting of additional personnel for the National Military Reserve will be undertaken on a voluntary basis. Why should this policy be adopted now that the Expeditionary Force is organised on a basis of compulsion and that service in the Territorials is also compulsory?

Justice and common sense appear to demand that a uniform and mandatory call should be made on those best fitted to render any and all forms of defence service, including the Home Guard and the Emergency Precautions Services. This plainly is essential in order that available weapons and equipment may lie handled and used by those best able to do so with effect. If the reason, or excuse, for discriminating, in the matter of compulsion, between one section and another of our defence services, was that the likelihood of an attack on the Dominion was remote, then that reason is no longer valid. It has become perfectly possible that our local defences may be put to the test of .battle. Apart from purely military preparation, questions like that of blackout organisation now demand more serious attention than they have yet received and the position may have to be considered from another standpoint than that of attack on a given area. There is, for instance, the possibility that the normal lighting of towns well away from the main centres might afford an enemy useful guidance in an attack on those centres, much as lighted towns in Eire are known to have enabled German air raiders to find their way to objectives in Northern Ireland. , It is very probable, too, that a far-reaching overhaul of the whole economic and industrial organisation of the Dominion may now become imperatively necessary. It is more than ever true that we cannot afford to be content with anything less than a full-powered effort in the common cause. At its meeting tomorrow Parliament should be prepared to give a lead that will.enable the people of the Dominion to put their full weight into the task of winning the war.