A GREAT SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 152, 24 March 1938, Page 10

A GREAT SERVICE

Those public-spirited citizens who, under the title New Zealand Defence League, have been endeavouring to stimulate public interest in the vital question of national defence are rendering a great —and it may prove vital—service to their country. The Defence League is a non-party organisation whose purpose it is to endeavour to ensure that the people of the Dominion will be kept fully informed of the need for adequate measures of defence, and of the obligations resting on all good citizens to interest themselves in the matter and to play their part'as the occasion may demand. No one can honestly or honourably say that he or she is free of responsibility for what is, or is not, being done by way of preparation against the dangers which to-day unfortunately threaten any country unequipped and unready to defend itself against aggression. It is the duty of those in authority to plan and to take the practical measures that may be best suited to our requirements, but the weight of public opinion is needed to assist and stimulate those who are entrusted with this tremendously important and responsible task.

A good many years ago now, a wonderful service was rendered to this country by the late Hon. R. McNab, Sir James Allen, and others associated with them, through an educative campaign which they conducted throughout New Zealand, and which led to the passing of the Act providing for a comprehensive system of military training for the youth and young men of the Dominion. No one under 21 years of age was exempt from this training, and it was largely as the result of the efforts of a few public-spirited men that the public generally came to recognise the need for these defensive preparations, and gave them their approval. This was in 1909, and the warnings then given by the advocates of compulsory training were, as we now know, sadly substantiated in 1914. To-day we have a world more disturbed and with nations more aggressively reckless even than in the years preceding 1914; and the New Zealand Defence League is striving, as Mr. McNab and his colleagues did in 1908, to awaken the people to the urgent need for placing the country in the best possible position to defend itself.

That there is need for this awakening, unfortunately, cannot seriously be questioned. What would have been the position of New Zealand and other parts of the British Empire had events in Europe a few days ago been handled with less care and judgment? What if the conflagration had spread? Are we prepared and equipped to defend ourselves? The threatening dangers arising out of Germany’s invasion of Austria had hardly passed before a fresh peril arose through Poland and Lithuania becoming embroiled; and unpleasant possibilities still exist in this quarter. It would be madness to ignore these things and their possible reactions on ourselves. It cannot be said that we are blind to them, but are we sufficiently awake to the pressing need of the times? Do we properly realise our individual responsibilities? To-night, at the Town Hall, the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Defence League will hold a meeting to which all citizens are invited, when the international situation and its bearing on our welfare will be discussed and explained. It deserves a full attendance of the public, not merely because the addresses should be of interest and value, but to assist and encourage those who are seeking, %pugh_ the Defence League, jto,