Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1915. NATIONAL ORGANISATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 8203, 28 July 1915, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1915. NATIONAL ORGANISATION.

The statement made by the Minister of Defence, to the [deputation which waited upon him on Monday, carries us little further in the direction of speeding up the Dominion's efforts. Mr Allen was able to convince the members of the deputation that there were special reasons against the despatch of more men, and that phase of the question is therefore closed for the present. The Minister made an important announcement regarding. the national registration of everybody (women included) between the ages of 17 and 55, and hinted at the possibility of the register embracing the organisation of all industries. Both of these schemes are feasible, and Great Britain's experience of the last-named has shown how necessary and beneficial it is. Mr Allen did not commit himself to the adoption of either. He confessed his entire sympathy with (hem, and, with regard to a«n;itional register, he said he was prepared to go further than some of the members of the deputation. It was therefore somewhat disappointing 1 to find him expressing the opinion that ''the time has not come yet " for putting"'the schemes in force. An interesting commentary, on the British tendency •to perpetuate unpreparedness, compared with the German system of leaving nothing to chance, -was shown during the heuriug of the charge against the spy Lody^.w.ho was hanged, in the Tower of London some months :u>o. This "man was found to be in possession of a cpmplete .plan of the,, ( country within a radius of. 50 miles of London, and the plan gave the location of every : important .factory, and the nutare a n& amount of its output, iand of every acre of cultivated ground in that extensive are.a. Tlura were other important details; but it was an interesting revelation- of German thoroughness to find that the enemy was bettor posted in our resources thn.n we were ourselves. It may be thai there, rest in the archives- of the. German War Office- full particulars of the prominent industries of New Zealand, together. 1 with comprehensive ' in'fornvaLion on the potentialities of the Dominion under" German sway. But be that as it may, we could not do better, "in view of. -the Minister's prophecy that great demands will have tobe made upon Hie people of the Dominion, than-, follow 1 the example of Gr-?\-'A Britain ami Australia in ascertaining exactly what our resources are in men and materials. If we are to take our proper part in assisting the Empire it is obvious-that-there will have to be some organisatiSn of our resources under State supervision and control. At present, our-contributions, to the food supply of the British troops depend almost solely upon individuals. The maintenance of,those supplies rests, in fact, upon whether it is expedient for the cattle and'siheep owners to poll to the Government. The- same conditions obtain with regard to the other industries upon which the' stability and progress of the Dominion depend. When' the "cri.si.s came in Great Britain this ho phazard system went to smash, with the first pressure put upon it; and there is no warrant for believing that similar disorgam-.iiinn will not occur here. With ivonrd to New. Zealand's quota, in men, Mr Allen was not uapTvy.irThis comparison iof our efforts in that direction j with those of Australia. The I Commonwealth is practically pledged to n minimum force of 150,000, of which total, Mr Pearce stated the other day, about 100,000 were u{ (,he. front or undergoing training. New Zealand has 25,000 at the Dardanelles and at the various camps, but this is, only halMli* number that could be raised if :\ vin-orons recruitingcampaign wero organised. It was stated in a enhh on Monday that at the end of nnothor six months Groat Britain would have 4,000,000 men under arms, and proportionate to the population

this is about 1 in I.o—a propor-j tion that, is-simply amazing-, and not attainable even by those countries that depend upon conscription for their recruits. New Zealand's proportion is 1 in 40; so that although we have done wonders .considering our^ total uripre-. paredness for military measures, we are still some way behind our Motherland. But we are both able, and willing 1 to do better should the occasion arise.