BE PREPARED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 22, 27 January 1939, Page 8

BE PREPARED.

SECURITY NEEDED. EARL BEATTY'S ADVICE. MSRCHAKT SERVICE DECLINE. "I have no doubt that in September la*t you were fully conscious of the gravity of the situation, but even in these, days «,f rapid communication and of wireless/new*, distance still counts, and, Iwing at (lie opposite end of the World, you could not have been so deeply .Mined an we were. When gas mask's are wmimml to the whole population, when trendies are dug in the parks and squares of all great cities, it is apt to l>ring home to the maw of the people the tUugeiM in which they live in the modern world." Theue were the opening remarks of Earl Beatty in an address deliverrd at a. luncheon tendered him at the Officers' Club to day. "From the safety -of distance it is easy to criticise, but I want you to realise—whatever your feelings may have been since the crisis*-that we in London did not consider for one minute that it was bluff on the part of the dictators. To us it was common knowledge on that afternoon of September 29 that Germany was to mobilise fully. Her army was to march to that stage for which it had been preparing for many weeks. For all we knew it might have started as we sat there in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister had either to make up hie mind that war was inevitable and throw all the energies of the country into preparation or h* had to make a prolonged and determined effort to attempt to eradicate the possible causes of war, at the same time steadily proceeding with defence preparations." Earl Beatty said he did not think th« people of New Zealand or even the government realised the gravity of the situation. Admirable as was the desire of the Government to raise tne standard of living of the people and to live in peace It could not l>e done without security, and it was tine responsibility of the' (Government that security should come first in its programme. The problem of the defence of our trade routes in the Pacific Ocean was altering every day and with it was bound up the defence of the Dominion. The strategic value of remote islands had vastly increased in the last few years, for bases, both naval and. aircraft. Bases from which our cruisers defending our convoys could operate, properly defended,' in which our merchantmen could collect .to await- convoy, were essential. ,

The New Zealand Government, Earl Beatty said, had decided to increase considerably the Air Force of the Dominion. Co-operation between the Navy and Air Force, wae essential, as it wae also with the Army.' In an effort to gain a twopower standard—sufficient for Home and sufficient for a fleet at Singapore—England wan te> spend no leae than £2,000,000,000 over a period of five years, but even this was etlll a long way from having real security for all the trade route*.

Earl Beatty also referred to the ahirming decline in Britfeh shipping. He believed there was much scope for cadet corps la the Dominion.