DEFENCE OF NEW ZEALAND

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21857, 10 August 1936, Page 10

DEFENCE OF NEW ZEALAND

NEED FOR ACTION I

EMPHASISED

“POLICY UNTOUCHED BY PACIFISM” ; ADDRESS BY MR JUSTICE NORTIICROFT The urgent need of measures of j defence for New Zealand, and as | great a need to have a military j policy untouched by pacifism and| sentimentality were spoken of by Mr j Justice Northcroft on Saturday. Un- 1 preparedness in 1914 did much to j create war, he said. It undoubtedly j lengthened it and increased its j losses. I

Judge Northcroft was speaking to | officers of the New Zealand Artillery i who served in the war. They werei gathered from all parts of the Do- i minion at a gunners’ dinner held in | Christchurch on Saturday night, j Judge Northcroft was commander of i a battery in the war. i Judge Northcroft said: “In recent; years we have allowed ourselves to ; become too much occupied with j social and economic disorders —with j our internal problems —and havej overlooked the external prob„ems.; These can no longer be ignored. i “The world is in a state of turmoil. There are the clashing systems • of government, fascist and communist, of Germany and Italy on the: one side, and Russia on the other.: There are racial fears and jealousies; as of France and Germany. There. are territorial riva.s as in the j Polish corridor, in the Far East, and; in colonial distribution. Above all j there are national economic barriers j destroying international trade and | creating deprivation and distress | throughout Europe. Any one of these ! factors would cause alarm —all of; them in conjunction breed imminent | peril. i A Special Duty “In these circumstances we can; afford to indulge neither the idealism ; of the pacifists nor the cupidity of | munition makers. We are facing a 1 situation in which former soldiers i have a special duty; nor should we' be deterred by the out-worn gibe of | ‘militarist.’ . i “We were never professional; soldiers but were civilians who for' a short spell became officers in a • citizen army. We cannot be accused of having any professional in- I terest to advance war, even if it could be thought that we should: wish to do so. On the contrary we, | with the bitter and tragic experi- I ence of actual warfare both on the ■ field of battle and in the more bitter j and tragic field of post-war condi- ■ tions. have a special interest in | making any sacrifice to avert war. j “Pacifism and shallow sentimen- j tality have in the past played tool great a part in the military policy ! of our British people. They created | a condition of unpreparedness which | in 1914 did much to create war and j certainly to add to its duration, and | its losses. To-day. with the world) a cauldron of war poison, it is ; criminal to allow our absolute de- J fencelessness to continue. Government’s Part i “Our legislators, who have been j since war days immersed with diffi- I cult social and economic problems, j may be forgiven for our present de- j fenceless position. The Prime Min- j ister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) has 1 assured this country that the matter j is receiving urgent consideration ini collaboration with the Imperial i authorities. Mr Coates for the leader | of the Opposition has said that this j was not a party matter and has j offered all possib’e assistance. That j lead must be followed by all, and | most of all by those of us who j have been soldiers —who know the | horrors of war—the need for pre- ! paration and the futility of im-: provisation in the force of an enemy j equipped with modern means of j warfare —and who know from ex- I perience what is the fate of a coun- ) try whose arms cannot defend it | from invasion. I

“We sought to do our duty in the I past when we bore arms in defence | of our nation and its ideals. To-day i we have the higher duty of striv- i ing to avert a recurrence of. war j to our country and its people by I assisting in every possible way the | establishment of those measures i indispensable for its defence.” I