FARMERS AND DEFENCE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 267, 5 August 1920, Page 5

FARMERS AND DEFENCE

' Sir.—As an ex-member of the Territorial Force who joined it in ns one who has served with the Exww tionnry Force from tho days of the Main Body to the end of the war and a so as „ farmer in a small way, I feel tnat a liavo some authority to poke the finner of ridicule at tho jrote«P» statements and theories Te &Pl nß mn J e fence you report as liavuig- beon mn by somo of tho members of the rumors statements are exactly on a par nmiitlied oratory of the street, corner "Bolshio" who screams that every meriTonf V» .1 nrofiteer, or with the languid Str of the idle bounder, who does no work himself, yet damns every worker f °LTu» lake our friends' statements one by one and examine them by the light of reality, for we shall be asked to so to another war era long, and they affect ns. Mr. Malcolm says he is anxious for a proper scheme of defence. He is an educated man, and prsbably knows that war nowadays demands tho organisation of the whole of the force of overv sort which a nation has at its disposal. Yet ho apparently imagines that when tho nest war comes we can mobilise tho school children as wo recently did for tho Prince of Wales, arm them with small Union Jacks, and place them under tho command of hie bespectaclcd Professor of Military Science, who will direct their flag-wagging from a soapbox, and thus repel tho enemy. If it wore not 60 tragic, and if it did not mean that such folly as Mr. Malcolm j and his followers contemplate would do I thousands of us to death, tho whole thiue would be humorous. I I remember on the Somme in 1916 gctS ting mixed up with a Now Army unit in

Q night attack. The were product of a university training corps. Not ono of them had any pcacc-tira* training. The attack was made, lions led by asses; and I remember one Bhellghocked Tommy reeling back weeping, and saying, "They're- murdering us! Thoy're murdering lis!" meaning his officers, who, without experience, had led their mon to destruction. That is what Mr. Malcolm means. Mr. Sheat tells us (hat tho la to war showed that men who never hnd any previous training did quite ns well as those who had served in tho Territorial force, cud thoreforo the Territorial foreo is useless. Would Mr. Sheat say that the war proved that tho Navy was useless because John Brown, who enlisted during tho war, was .*a good n man as Jack Tar, who enlisted before the war? y''', The answer to Mr, Sheat is that our Territorial system and tho Territorial system of Australia saved tho Empire. Without it, our main body could ■* not have been fit to fight for a year or luoro (just as it took thr- Americans a year to get into action). Wo would h&vo had no leader?, no equipment. Wo Australians and New Zealanders, with-the 29th Division, destroyed tho Turkish' Army, and had that army not been ■destroyed the war might well have had' a different ending. We who lay out on tho bare hill-adca, on Gallipoli, remeniber being lushed with, machine-gun fire and shrapnel, ur.d never a round from our own side, because tho people at home had saved money.- We iiiavc feen the horrors of severed limbs, and known the less of our best pals,' ■much of which was caused by ignorantleadership, and, Mr. Editor, we who know will trust men like Generals llus- • sell, Chaytor, and Tiiclwrdson, who do know what war is. and who will not send our sons to needless sacrifice.—l am, etc., N. B. SCROPE.