MILITARY SCHEMES

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18, 22 July 1919, Page 8

MILITARY SCHEMES

TWO POINTS OF VIEW

10 THE EDITOR.

Sir,—With many others who have deplored the waste of life, wealth, and happiness which took place in the late war, but who looked upon it as the inevitable price we had to pay for security, I am profoundly disturbed by the Defence Minister's declared policy for the military training of our youth. His reasons evidently point to one country as the prospective enemy. • Does he contemplate an invasion which our forces will have to contend against on our own soil? Of wnot.use would any forces we could muster be against one army corps? Our scattered, disorganised, unequipped troops, however well trained, would most certainly be destroyed in detail if once an enemy were able to gain a footing on our shores, with all the attendant conditions that such a landing would entail. If an enemy has such control of the seas as to be able to send an army so far from their bases as New Zealand, any trained Territorials we can put in the field will b© of little account. And how does he propose to get the vast accumulation of munitions, artillery, tanks, aircraft, etc., that are necessary ior modern warfare? Our iron ore is still in the groand and likely to remain there. I have not yet heard of a single shell being made 'n any of our workships. Can we manufacture poison gas or gas masks? If we are to fight a modern nation we should surely give our youth four months a year continuouus training in chemistry, physics, mechanical and electrical engineering, flying, submarine management, photography, telegraphy, metallurgy, and a thousand other things that are necessary for a modern, self-contained nation.

Quite evidently his reason*, are hopelessly inadequate. He expects the public to be easily, gulled. His army of arm-chair military experts see a.number of keen veteran officers coming back from the front. Do they fear that there won't be enough lucrative positions to go

round ?

If this is not the reason for this useless and unnecessary extravagance, then we are all being deceived and fooled by our responsible Ministers. If the victory of the Allies is only a victory on paper, if the peace we are celebrating is a hollow mockery, if the League of Nations is a fraud and a sham, then indeed 'it is time for us to bestir ourselves. But first of all we should remove from their posts those who have been lulling us to rest with tales about "victories that are to end war," with " triumphs of right over might," and with "worlds safe for democracy."

Sir James must surely know that if we can't keep an enemy from landing on our shores we are doomed. At any rate, the only insurance policy worth considering is sea defence. Wo can't think of that without fortified bases, extensive dockyards, and submarine building plants. Australia might carry on a war with land forces, perhaps, on account of its wide distances; but New Zealand with its two islands, with its railways along the coasts, with its narrow coastal plains and lofty dividing ranges could only carry on a guerilla warfare such a.s the Cubans and Philippinos carried on against the Spaniards a generation ago. Let us by all means train up a vigorous and hardy manhood capable of all the mental and physical exertions of peace ■ and war. Only by doing so shall we hold our own in the keen industrial strife that is ahead of us. It was by their wide application of science to every branch of industry and not by their militarism that the Germans were so long able to defy a world in arms. Let our youth of both sexes be taught to' apply science and scientific methods and management to every branch of our national life. If they are to be withdrawn from productive industry, till 17 or 18 years of age let .them be so trained when they take up ther life-work that 'industry may benefit tenfold by the sacrifice> But it is education that tha money must be spent on. Our genuine military experts could organise flying schools 'and the military officials could get positions as physical drill instructors to our youth. But we want the best and keenest intellects in the country to conduct our schools.—l am, etc.,

PATRIOT.

TO TCI EDITOR,

Sir,—The curtain has just descended on pne of the greatest tragedies of the world's existence,, entirely caused by civil apathy, folly, ambition; and other dead; ly sins. Twice have I volunteered to save the country from its perils, and twice have I witnessed the deaths of gallant men who sacrificed themselves to save a situation which should never have occurred. Both in South Africa and again in this war I have seen brave men die through want of the very essentials of defence. The curtain is scarce down, the orchestra, has not completed packing its instruments, than we hear the cries of those least fitted to form an opinion, demanding that active measures for defence should cease, that pre-war systems, admittedly and proven unsound, should continue, and bespattering the permanent instructors who did so much to pull us out of the fire. My purpose is not. to support these unfortunate men, who in peace are ridiculed and in war expected" to make bricks without straw, or perform superhuman, tasks:, their case is clear to the just and patriotic. But I wish to state, for the benefit of those who comfort' themselves with the reflection that the 100,000 who have been trained during the war will be available for defence in the next twenty years, that I, for one, will never again engage to save a hopeless situation deliberately brought about by suicidal neglect in time of peace. .

We who have been trained are not professional gladiators, longing for the chance of defending the miserable critics, the unfair, unpatriotic, and selfish peace profiteers, who squeal now that their danger has temporarily endfed because a better system of defence is suggested. Anyone familiar with, the old system of defence knows that it was not worth much in peace, and showed itself faulty in, war. We have trusted Allen, Russell, Richardson, Robin, and our other experts during the war: why should we then discredit them in peace or listen to the veriest amateurs in preference? War is a ghastly, loathsome, and abominable business, made worse when engaged in by half-trained men without the necessary essentials. Who can forget the horrors of those early days on the Peninsula? Yet it cannot be averted by national weakness, but 'rather the reverse. We are fond of quoting the ostrich as an example of stupidity, because it hides its head to avoid seeing danger. How much superior are some who write and criticise defence measures?

If' we want a proper defence we must be prepared to pay for it, and must abide by those best fitted to form opinions regarding its necessities. If, on the other hand, we are prepared to drift once again into dangerous weakness, then let us all taste of the pleasures of 'false peace and imagined security until finally conquered by nations attracted by our weakness and folly. Never again will it be found that ample supplies of patriots are forthcoming to avert the danger if the latter is the case. If our future generations are too pure and uncontaminated to be permitted to assemble together for training, then it looks singularly like as if they cannot be trusted to hold their own, oven amongst themselves. Surely this discloses grave faults somewhere.

Anyhow, when the next struggle comes '* I shall be one who will watch, as a '<■ civilian, with interest the efforts of the ■; "Doves of Peace" to avert an enemy's : landing by waving willows at the aggres- ' sors.—l am, etc., DIGGER.