The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1938. DEFENCE FORCES—WHAT FOR?

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 180, 2 August 1938, Page 8

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

TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1938. DEFENCE FORCES—WHAT FOR?

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

The vigorous discussion on defence which

has been going on in New Zealand this year has been mainly concerned with one aspect

of the question—that of the strength of the Territorial Force. Many views have been

heard, but it cannot be said that precise conclusions have been reached. For that the principal reason is that there is no agreement

concerning one fundamental factor, which may be defined by asking the question: What arc the intended purposes of a Territorial Force? Curiously enough, there has been little reference to that question, although obviously a defence force can be said to be "adequate" or " inadequate" only in relation to some presumed need. What is the presumed need? Is it for a force for " home defence," and only jthat, or for a force part of which would have -to be dispatched overseas? Would New i Zealand be willing to send away another expeditionary force, and, if so, could such a force be sent? These are questions which are not being faced, and there seems to be an opinion that it is unnecessary, or inexpedient, to face them. the exact circumstances of any emergency cannot be foreseen, and therefore cannot be prepared for, but it is not impossible, and it is neither unnecessary nor. inexpedient, to examine the broad question of the uses to which it is intended the Territorial Force should be put.

" HOME DEFENCE " ONLY?

If the Territorial Force is intended for " home defence" only, then its required size can be determined in the light of such statements as that of Sir Edward Ellington, that the most immediate danger to the Dominion in the event of war would come from a raid. In repelling such a raid, both the Air Force and the Territorials (including the coastal defence batteries) would have work to do. The strength of such forces, and the equipment each would need in such circumstances, can perhaps be gauged fairly exactly by technical experts in the light of modern experience abroad. And, undoubtedly, what expert opinion said was necessary for the purposes of home defence would be done. There is no section of people worth mentioning that -would be opposed to New Zealanders defending their own soil, no section that will not admit that should be adequate preparation, equipment and training of the forces needed.

But New Zealand in the great emergency of 1914, and in emergencies before and since, was not disposed to accept the idea that " home defence" constituted the limit of its obligations as a member of the British Commonwealth. It is fairly frequently suggested now that, as conditions have changed (with the result that in future it will be much more difficult and risky to dispatch an expeditionary force than it was in 1914), the Dominion will best help the Mother Country and the other Dominions by being ready and able to look after itself. Is that view the basis of the present Government's policy? The Prime Minister, on his return from the Imperial Conference, said he had been asked by the heads of the Services, in Britain, " whether we simply wished to build a defence system for the Dominion alone. I said, ' No, we want to play our part in doing that, of course, but we also want to play our part in the defence of the. British Commonwealth, because that is the most effective way of doing it.'" That statement is not without ambiguity —probably necessarily, for Mr. Savage and no one else can foresee the exact circumstances in which the Dominion might be called on to play her part—but the inference seems justified that, if circumstances permitted, this Government, like its predecessors, would wish to help the British Commonwealth by doing something besides caring for home defence. Whether the inference is justified or not, there should be taken into account the probability that, in some circumstances, whatever might be the attitude of the Government of the day, public opinion would demand that men willing and able to go abroad should be allowed to go, and should be equipped and trained for the purpose. PBEPABATION VITAL.

Many people who give earnest but uninformed consideration to this question assume, perhaps unconsciously, that if an emergency arose and the Dominion wanted to send away an expeditionary force; it could train one and send it. So it could, but the degree of training and preparation of all kinds that would be possible would be gravely inadequate to fit men for the conditions of modern warfare. Even though Australia and New Zealand had had . universal training systems for years before 1914, the men who fought on Gallipoli were not fully trained. They did not become first-rate soldiers until they were transferred to jFrance. Moreover, defects and blunders in organisation (as, for instance, the failure to send dentists, and the appalling lack of variety in food) not only cost men's lives, but contributed to lowering the vitality of every man fighting , on the Peninsula. There will always be blunders in war, but some of the worst of them can be; avoided by studying and profiting by past experience. And the greatest lesson to- be •learned in New Zealand is that, if it is intended ever again to send another expeditionary force abroad, it will be criminal folly to wait until an emergency arises, and then improvise the force. The cost of improvisation is paid, not by the people whose prejudices or shortsghtedness have made it necessary,' but by tie men who-go to fight. * j