DEFENCE PROBLEMS

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 35, 10 August 1921, Page 9

DEFENCE PROBLEMS

BEFORE EMPIRE PREMIERS

THE PRICE OF PEACE

The associated problems of naval, military, and aerial defence appear on the agenda of the meeting of Premiers of the Empire, and it is apparent that there are expectations in come quarters of- fruitful action being taken as a result ot the deliberations (wrote Arohibald Hurd in the London Daily Telegraph just before, the sittings of the Imperia} Conference). There seems also tc be am impression that the whole controversy ac to the relative importance of naval, military, and aoria] forces will be reopened. Those anticipations will almost certainly not.be fulfilled, for the Dominions—and Canada in particular—are evidently still unconscious, even after the experiences of the late war, of the price which must be paid for lack of preparedness and of the serious charaoter ■ of the decision of His Majesty's Ministers in. London that the United Kingdom can no longer, practically unasBiated, support the whole burden of protecting the property, liberties, and hvee of aJI the peoples of the British -Empire. The condition at present is that 40,----000,000 inhabitants of" this island are devoting £207,555,000 to the provision of defensive forces which are the only resouroe for assuring the safety of tile 440,000,000 subjects within the British Empire. The whole of the Dominions »re spending comparatively small sums on defence, and the money is' devoted exclusively to what are regarded as local needs. That.situation, it might be argued, is not compatible with the state of equality within tho Empire on which many speakers overseas lay stress. As there can be, in accordance with the principles wo honour in oommon, no taxation without representation, so their ought, it has been suggested, to be no representation without taxation. It "is not, however, our custom to regard these matters from th« standpoint' of tho, strict constitutionalist, and certainly there is no inclination to make any "demand", upon the Dominions. All that has happened is that Mr. Lloyd George, speaking on behalf of all his colleagues, has announced that 'this little community cannot continue to bear "the whole burden of the defence of this gigantio Empire in every sea, Atlantio and Pacific alike."

That brings us to the kernel of the matter: Is any defence necessary? I read in a, Canadian paper. »n article the other day in which the writer clinohed the whole matter, to his own satisfaction, by asking the further question: "Whom are we going; to fight?" That is the argument which always appeals to men and women who have no appreciation of the lessons of history, and who do not understand war.. The 6ame inquiry was made in the early years of this century, when Germany was piling up her naval armamente and protesting that they were to be employed only for defensive purposes. Year by year the proposals of ths Admiralty wore denounced in many quarters, the Labour Party bejng especially vocal, and the National Liberal Federation as recently as the autumn of 1913 declaring, that the scale of our naval expenditure was without a shadow of justißoation. To millions of people there appeared to bo no' more cloud upon the horizon; we had formed an entente with Franco; we were on.terms.of friendship with Russia; our relations with Italy were oordial; we had no quarrel with .Austria-Hungary; and we were negotiating a comprehensive treaty for the settlement of all outstanding differences, with Germany What need was there, m those circumstance's, to spend year after year vast sums upon the British Fleet and to organise an Expeditionary Force five or six times as great as anything provided in th« past? "Who is the enemy ?" was the question that was asked. The answer is now a matter of history. It is an axiom of British polioy—and an axiom in keeping with our liberal tradi-1 tions—that we never name -, an , enemy, because we never wage aggressive wars; but we wait until we are attacked. From a -purely military "standpoint the British attitude towards war <is an attitude of weakness, because it leaves,the other side the choice of time and place, and, above all, the advantage of creating offensive machinery to suit the purposo which it is intended to pursue. That was the work carried out by the naval and military General Staffs of Germany. We are now familiar with the blunders which were committed, blunders which are apparently inevitable in a vast Staff organisation, with its conflicting.views, its limited and distorted vision, and its incessant personal jealousies. But, arjart from those considerations, the British Empire entered upon the Great War under the inevitable handicaps traceable to a defensive policy. If it had not been for the Grand Fleet, provided by the little community in this island, and if it had not been for the Expeditionary Force and ' its reserves, also provided by the little community in this island, the 440,000,000 people of the British Empire would to-day be virtually tho slaves of Germany '

PROM NORTH SEA TO PACIFIC. -What is the situation to-day ? There is no enemy on the horizon; but who can foretell the course of events during the next twenty years? I am content to take a comparatively short view, because it takes twenty years at least to create «. fleet, as German authorities have admitted ;, and we havo no Imperial Fleet today, but only the Navy financed by the British taxpayers— a Navy which is being steadily reduced in size. The Prime Ministers of the i Empire, on assembling in London, must do so in the knowledge that if the. Empire ia to be defended it must still be defended by sea. The controversy between the apostles of sea-power j -jj *dvoc»*ea of air-power bag been decided, after a thorough investigation by the Committee of Imperial' Defence,' M jo* likely to be reopened at present. Whatever the future m»y disclose, sea-power: remains the first line of defence of the peoples of the British Empire, and the capital ship is admittedly the instrument around which any fleet must continue to be built up. In thosecircunißtanoes the .'British peoples, dependent on the /sea for safety, cannot wait until an enemy declares himself and then prepare their, defence. Naval power, uni Sr ltary P°wor,'cannot, be improvised. . They must, on the contrary, in the present conditions of the world make preparations to meet any probable contingency, and then hold themselves ready when a threatening situation develops to adjust their organisation to any particular need. If it be admitted thai the British Empire still requires » Fleet, and that m the words of the Admiralty, that. fln!f T mt il ot terror *o »°y other mnti t et\ *?2 S^ te)smen froni overseas 1 f lefi t0 J d?' r the'r own oonclusions from the declaration of our Prime Minister that this little island can no longer bear practically the whole burden. p£v!i ivr d°minasf the discussions of the Prime , Ministers-if there can be useful discussions without Canada, which is •versa to any exploration of the eubjeot. S ee**** °{ naval gravity has beenshifted from the North Sea to the Padfie. It .» m the huge ocean whioh waahes the shores of Australia, New Zealand? Canada and South Africa- that gS thl aZv.T* "c "°"V. being created A. tna debates in Washington and Tokio have revealed, neither -Ihe United State* nor Japan intends to abandon the plans ot naval expansion to which they are already committed. They may not adopt further plans, but, conference or no conference, they will not turn back. The work in the shipyards and engine shops which is now in hand,, will be pressed forward to completion. No doubt in some modiaed form the Anglo-Japanese • lreaty will be renewed, and will receive the blessing of the Unitod States. That renewal will react favourably on the naval situation. But the Pacific problem will remain; it is. m a peculiar degree, the problem of the Dominions. Wo are as much concerned with 1 it as they were concerned with the pre-war situation in the North Sea. It now rests with the Dominions, , bearing in mind that naval power is a plant of slow growth and cannot be improvised, to study the problem of the Pacific. They will 6nd the taxpayers of Great. Britain ready and willing to cooperate with them in any measures which may be ■ considered necessary, bat the main responsibility of deciding, in the light o[ whatever expert advice the Ad'mlrft"iy may civ». what those mwuurcß •bill be rest? »&» A«B,,