DEFENCE OF NEW ZEALAND

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21809, 15 June 1936, Page 7

DEFENCE OF NEW ZEALAND

»o mm editor cr *a» raws. • Sir,—When Lord Roberta tried to warn the people* Eqglandof the likelihood of war. he wu eaiiM “an old fool” and “an old man in his dotage," but his warning proved to be only too true. Since the Great War we have all been doing all sorts of things to prevent war. What with the No More War Association, the various pacifist societies and peace movements, and not least the League of Nations, some people would imagine that war would he something belonging to the prehistoric age. At present in New Zealand, most of us are sq busy turning “God’s Own Country" into an eartmy paradise that we have not any time to consider the question as to its future occupancy. Everyone wants peace, but the great question is how are to obtain peace? Is it not time that we put all our dreams and idealism on one side, and faced this question in a practical manner? Although it has been laughed cut of court during the last few years, I still bdlieve that old saying, and I think recent happenings back me up, that the only way to obtain peace is to be prepared for- war. 1 may bo laughed ax, still I think It is quite within the bounds of possibility that just as Italy attacked a weak neighbour and seized all its possessions, so the time may come when some other nation may take a fancy to New. Zealand, and. if we are not prepared, treat us in a somewhat similar way to which poor Abyssinia has been subjected. what is the good of leagues, treaties, and agreements if you are dealing with people who only keep them just as long as it suits their convenience.

The Navy League is doing splendid work, but I think we want something wider and more inclusive at the present time. What I should very much like to see formed here and the other centres of the Dominion is a league of national defence. If there are any other people of the same opinion, I wish they would communicate with me.—Yours, etc.. O. FITZGERALD. 33 Andover street, June H, 1936.