DEFENCES OF DOMINION

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22437, 25 June 1938, Page 16

DEFENCES OF DOMINION

LACK OF SECRECY NOTICED VIEWS OF ENGLISH VISITORS MESSRS E. DE ROTHSCHILD AND N. PURCELL-PITZGERALD “We were astonished at the manner in which anybody can take photographs of anything they please in New Zealand; we saw six Japanese in Auckland equipped with cameras and telephoto lenses apparently mapping out the defences," said Mr N. PurcellFitzgerald, of Waterford, Ireland, who is accompanying Mr Edmund de Rothschild, a member of the English branch of the famous Rothschild family, on a tour of the Dominion. Both arrived in Christchurch yesterday, and during an interview expressed their surprise at the lack of restrictions imposed on the taking of photographs and flying over military areas. Any Japanese, they said, could charter an aeroplane and fly over military areas and see all he wished to see of the defences.

“Taxation is very high in England,” said Mr de Rothschild, and it is very unfortunate that most of the money is being spent for purposes of destruction, and very little for constructive purposes.” He declined to make any comment on the possibility of war in Europe, but said that England was taking the problem of defence very seriously. Women were offering their services freely as nurses and in the VAD. Attitude to War in England “England, however, will think twice before entering into war,” said Mr Fitzgerald, “Her aerial defences could account for only from 10 to 12 per cent, invading aircraft, and there is a population of 8,000,000 at stake if poison gas, bombs, and other methods of aerial warfare were used on London. The only defence is counterattack, and victory means complete annihilation. “I cannot see any harm in New Zealand being completely prepared,” Mr Fitzgerald added, “and I think greater measures should be taken to keep the fortifications secret.” The danger, he said, was that Japan would attack New Zealand if Britain were engaged in a war in Europe. Both Mr de Rothschild and he were agreed that Japan was pushing ahead slowly in the Pacific, and New Zealand might be the first place to be struck in the event of war.

Mr Fitzgerald spent three months in Japan, and the impression he formed was that the trading classes were with the Government in wanting peaceful agreements with the rest of the world. There was, however, a powerful young military class that believed in an aggressive policy, and it appeared that the Government had not got the situation entirely in hand. He had the greatest admiration for the Japanese people for the efficient manner in which the country was run and for their scrupulous honesty. “The British people should stick tof ether,” said Mr de Rothschild. “The Implre Is a tremendous force for stability in the world to-day. It and the United States are the greatest factors for peace, and with the troubles that the United States is facing to-day the responsibility devolves on the Empire, not merely on England, but on all the Dominions as well.”