NATIONAL SERVICE.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXIX, Issue 33, 26 November 1912, Page 2

NATIONAL SERVICE.

V LORD ROBERTS' PLEA. APPEAL TO BOTH PARTIES. In an important speech which \, ' delivered on September 23 at the annual meeting of the National Service Lea„, at Norwich, Lord Roberts urged the na turn to give its most earnest attention to the danjger which threatens Glut Britain owing to the unsatisfactor' condition of our armed forces and E the risk of invasion. "You are kept in the dark," he said 'tor political and party to the weakness of our naval and mill tarv arrangements. Whenever th« ( ST tl u n - of d , ef ? nce is di <™ssed, our difficulties and dangers are made liX ot and those of our possible opponent, are exaggerated. uls "For Great Britain to continue at an Empire, or «veii for the continued safety of our beloved country, the Navv must be considerably increased and tk» Army made sufficient in numbers and training to free the Navy from the ne cessity of being, tied to our shores Y ea , by .year the German Navy i s adding to ite strength, while the strength of our Navy, as compared with the navi™ of other nations, has steadily declined with the alarming result that our fleets have had practically to be withdrawn from the Mediterranean and conoeu trated in home waters, in order to h*l ance the Germany Navy in the North The Mediterranean.

1 ho bringing home of our fleets from the Mediterranean .is the heaviest blow winch lias been dealt us. Two-thirds of our supplies come? to us from Southern Russia and India by its waters. Unless we are masters of the sea we cannot continue to hold Malta and Gibraltar and our position in India will h e m' ously jeopardised. The remedy lbr'thi. most dangerous state of affairs is »' m . ply to increase our Navy until a a ßa ; n " reaches the Two-Power standard, ; , u d to liavo nn Army sufficient in numbers and training to guard our shores ir, t'-o absence of the expeditionary force." Turning to the Army, Lord Robert") deprecated the want of public inte turn it. and urged that the only way to create such an interest was to iiuuouee compulsory military training for' all classes.

"Whether we make the 'hangein time, or acquiesce in Colonel S?clj' s foolish and unpatriotic dictum that we shall have to wait until disaster evertakes us before compulsory 1 raining is intioduced, is for the countrv >o dtoide That the country would decide tightly I have not the slightest doubt i( the question were out before the people truthfully and honestly by the leaders of both political parties. "Prepared for war we cannot be so long as the defence of these islands is limited to a citizen army raisei «.;i (ho voluntary system—a principle which is as unfair to our patriotic volunvers as it is powerless to produce the numbers required or to produce the discipline and training that are essential to efficiency." While expressing the most profound admiration for the patriotism of the Territorial Army. Ixnd 'loberts went on to state that its number could not be raised about 300,000 with voluntary service, and with that form of service it was impossible to give the training required in war. With long-range weapons open order had become essential, and the strain on the men was far greater than of old. "The idea of Torritorals being given six months' training alter war breaks out is sheer nonsense." "I do not know if you arc aware that during the naval manoeuvres, off this very const, it has been clearly shown that it was possible for transport* supposed to be the enemy's to elude the vigilance of the defending fleet* and to land a considerable number of soldiers on our shores, though the circumstances were favorable to the defenders.