The Auckland Star WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. MONDAY, JUNE 1, 1936. DEFENCE POLICY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 128, 1 June 1936, Page 6

The Auckland Star WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

MONDAY, JUNE 1, 1936. DEFENCE POLICY.

For the cause that lacks assistance, Fot the wrong that needs resistance For the future in the distance, And the good that tee can do.

The fairly broad hint given by the Leader of the Legislative Council, the Hon. Mr. Fagan, I that the Government is likely to decide that New Zealand's chief arm of defence shall in future be the Air Force, deserves consideration from several points of view. First of all, it should be said that modern conditions demand that in the formulation of a Defence policy the Government —any Government should take the public as fully as possible into its confidence. It should give a lead to responsible public discussion of the Dominion s defence needs, and of all suggested means of meeting those needs. It should not, after a long silence, suddenly proclaim that a great need has arisen and that, the policy having been decided, all that remains is for the taxpayer to foot the bill. If New Zealand people are convinced by common sense arguments of the wisdom of a proposed defence policy, they will support it—and, notwithstanding superficial signs to the contrary they will support it with enthusiasm. But if they feel that it is a policy imposed from above, in circumstances of traditional secrecy, they may give conventional assent, but the spirit will be lacking. A decision to make the Air Force the chief arm of defence would involve either a. large increase in the total Defence vote or else u reduction of expenditure on the Navy or the Territorial Army, or on both. Neither course ; should be adopted without adequate considera- ! tion and discussion, in which the public should i be encouraged to participate. Tendencies in ' Europe recently make it certain that the ! Dominions will be required to do a great deal ' more than they have done in the past for their ' own defence. New Zealand's problem (and : Australia's) is twofold. It cannot disregard ' the possibility of a direct attack, and it knows from the experience of the last war that even though there should be no direct attack, there would be an attack on the ships conveying its produce to the United Kingdom. Against this second and much more probable attack the only defence is, as it always has been, the British Navy. Our people are "Navy-minded," and it is unlikely that public opinion would permit \of any reduction in the premium, relatively small, which we pay for the insurance of naval protection of our trade routes. But protection of our trade routes, though essential, is not protection of New Zealand, and the Government's and the people's task is to decide, in the light of modern knowledge, how home defence can best be secured. In any such scheme the Air Force, the coastal batteries and the Territorial Force must, presumably, all have a place. And, as in other countries, civil industry also must have a place. Mr. Fagan remarked that there would have to be complete co-ordination between civil and defence aviation, but it is certain that the co-ordination will have to be wider than he indicated. The new Government, which approaches these problems with a fresh mind, has here an excellent opportunity to make a fresh beginning, and to enlist the support of the public in a cause which 'it is becoming increasingly dangerous to neglect.