WHERE TO FIGHT.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 15, 25 June 1920, Page 3

WHERE TO FIGHT.

GENERAL BIRDWOOD'S ADVICE. THE BASIS OF DEFENCE. General Sir William Birdwood' told tlm members of the New Zealand Club that he had climbed to the top of the Tinakori hills with the object of getting a bird'seye view of Wellington, but had found that a screen of smoke obscured the city. The smoke at any rate was evidence that the city was active in an industrial sense, and the sight had a moral for men who had seen the devastation wrought in Europ by the German invaders. "My army happened to have the good fortune to relieve Lille," continued Genearl Birdwood. "When w,e got there Lille was a dead city. The Germans had removed practically all the machinery from the manufacturing centres, and the industries of Lille were stilled. That was not legitimate warfare. The Germans did it deliberately because they wanted to have undisputed commercial superiority after securing the military domination that they were aiming at. The citizens of Lille were good enough to offer me the freedom of the city, and I went over there a yBar later to receive this honour. Lille was still a city of the dead. Nothing was going on. "I asked the people why they had not resumed their industrial activity, and they replied that they had been unable to get machinery. They had placed their orders in England, but these orders could not be filled quickly. Many other towns in the war area were in the same positioxi. How extraordinary fortunate are towns like Wellington, that have nfever had an enemy at their gates. "Whatever happens, make sure that if fighting takes place in the future it takes place ir£ somebody else's backyard, and not in your own. I said the other day that I realised the limitations that were placed upon the defensive preparations of a people numbering only one million. You cannot go in for enormous expenditure, even for defence. But you can have a definite policy to work to. Make up your minds what you are going to do and let your people know how far that falls short of perfection, as of necessity it must do. Then they will know what to expect in time of necessity. Never allow ycurselves to he put in the position. of enduring what Lille endured." General Birdwood added that New Zealand 's great need seemed to him to be additional population. That need seemed to be realised by the people he had met. He had been surprised and pleased to see that according to the official figures the birth-rate of the Dominion had been well maintained during most of the years of the war, in spite of the mobilisation of a large proportion of the men. The women evidently had been doing their duty, and the "Diggers" had done their duty at the same time by bringing back some 3000 brides from the Old Country, He had noticed in Australia that despite the dxought the best crop of all — the children — was doing wonderfully well, and he did not douht that as he travelled through New Zealand he would find lusty youngsters of the same stamp. Children- were the most valuable crop that any country could raise, but he heped that New Zealand was not going to depend upon that crop for building up the population. The Dominion soldiers, during the war, had invited many of the me ( of British regiments to come to New Zealand. They had told the English "lommies" to emigrate to a country that tiai abundant sunshine and that was prepaied to reward the man who assisted in the tasks of national development. When all the New Zealand soldiers had been settled again in civil life the Dominion ought to welcome thousands of the British soldiers.