THE GERMAN MENACE AND IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12569, 11 August 1906, Page 7

THE GERMAN MENACE AND IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

TO THIS EDtTOK Or "lit ,r«UI." Sir,—l was pleased indeed to observe the (one of your article to-dey, in which you, in your advocacy of ah incrcaaod contribution for the maintenanco of the Navy, show that yon realUe the great guiding principle of Imperial defence. I am afraid, however, that there is far from being any unanimity of opinion on this great question, which. is one of -vital importance to ertrj citizen of the colony. Gnat, envioue, bitterly jealous, and, ( above all, warlike end well-armed Powers are on the warpath, ready, enxioue, and fuHy determined to wrest from us the commercial supremacy, and if need be, to fight us for the naval supremacy of the sees.

Whatever Australians may say, or whatever New Zealanders may think, naval supremacy will decide: the mastery of the Pacific, and by that I do not mean mere forcible domination or territorial expansion, but the maintenance of commercial rights, the control of trade routes and sea communications, and the dictation of a policy favourable to the ambitions of the successful Power. Germany is as fully alive to this as either Japan, Great Britain, or the United States, and eh© sees in the humiliation of Great Britain t&o seductive prospect of becoming arbiter of the destinies of the world. Russia is dead to - the world. Another kick, like that of 1870 at Prance, would leave her stunned and' helpless. Tho only stumbling block to .the capture of Melbourne, Auckland, or Wellington is the British Navy. A defeat of the Imperial Navy in European or Cliino-Japarjeeo watersiwould,make us , all quake; it would send the cold shivers down our backs, but directly we recovered our equilibrium we should order our Permanent Artillery to roan tho forts, and when we found that there were only 40 or 50 trained men to man them we should get another dose of the cold shivers and went to hang the commandant. Two British naval defeats would upset the butter exporters of the North Island and the wood magnates of the South. ; The entire loss of the contrpl oi the sea would mean stark, staring ruin, and nothing else. Besides the loss or ten millions' worth-of cargoes, hulls, and price-less linos, meroanti.© ruin would be apparent on all sides. The loss -would fall on farmers, squatters, miners, workers, importers, exporters, companies, and emy class of labour. More than this New Zealand would fall a victim to a Power like Germany or Japan and China combined, which, having defeated the British Navy, is prepared to back up He. maritime suooe_-w_ with an army of a million men, aibly led. I do not say that they would eTstly conquer New Zealand, but I do say that if fifty thousand Germans or Chino-Japanefle. with the command of tlie sea, occupied Auckland and entrenched landwards, it would take one hundred thousand New Zoalanders, at a cost of fifty thousand lives and millions of money to eject them. Even then they could land anywhere else; and it could only be a* matter of time when a million New Zealanders would bo forced to share this beautiful land with a foreign, and perhaps a yellowskinned enemy. It is quite impossible, with, the space available, to dismiss here even the main points in the great and vital question of Imperial defence, which, should be a matter of th* gravest concern .to every man who calk himself an Englishman.—Yours, eto., A. W. ANDREW, . Major. St. Albans, August 9th, 1906.