SOUND DEFENCE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 144, 21 June 1930, Page 14

SOUND DEFENCE

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—After reading, the account which has appeared in your columns of the deputation from the National. Defence League which waited upon the Prime Minister I have come to. tlie conclusion, which must be shared by a great many of your readers, that the members of the deputation appeared to have an infinitely sounder grasp of the situation, than either the Prime Minister or his colleague, tho Minister of Defence.

The facts arid figures quoted by Mr. Perry are such as the country might reasonably expect to learn from its Minister of Defence, and not from some organisation outside his control. The Minister's contribution to the discussion —that of the number of prosecutions under the Defence Act last year—would have been of more value if lie had quoted the number: of people affected by ' that same: Act' who were not prosecuted. It would be.interesting to compare the number of prosecutions under the Defence Act with the number under the Motor Vehicles-or any other similar Act; In point of view of number,-. I think the latter would win hands down. Incidentally, if the number of prosecutions involved is to be accepted as the measure of popularity of any law, it is a wonder that the city bylaws have not long ago,been responsible for a revolution on.the best, Spanish model. ". ' It is almost pathetic to note the quotation of air. the old arguments against Territorial training, not one of which will bear close examination in the light of fact. For instance, the; statement that men put into camp against'-.tbeii will are not likely to make "good soldiers. is not borne out by the facts of history. ■ Mr. Forbes is a busy man, and so can have but little time for the study of such matters; but surely he has heard of the press-gang. Although the fact is usually ignored or forgotten, it is none the less the case that Britain has never yet been involved in a life or death struggle on land or at sea without a proportion of the.men engaged being present in battle against their will. Did the men pressed for the Navy fight any the less well at Trafalgar on that account, or the men taken from New Zealand under the Military Service Act of 1916 make a poor •showing during the retreat in April 1018? The verdict can be safely left to history. As to Mr. 'Forties's assertion about the changes in the science of war, particularly in connection with aviation, tms-also is based rather on sensational newspaper fiction than on cold hard • fact. That the air service has its uses none but a fool would deny; but it is not, nor can it ever be, a full and complete substitute for either land or sea forces. To claim otherwise is to fly in ..the face of proven facts Any arm that is new has always been supposed to have, some. mysterious power. With the development of any new instrument of war, extreme views on the theory of war are advanced, especially in peace. Based on such theories, imagination, coupled with self-interest, dictates extraordinary views and conclusions. In peace we are all prone to forget the lessons of war, and to give the greatest attention to the mechanical side. There are two schools or.theories on the conduct of. warone placing complete reliance on mechanical devices, while the otfyer realises by hard-bought experience that the decisive factor is man, the, human' element. It was the Digger....who,; was decisive, not the aeroplane, the gun, or gas, etc., during the last war, just as it always has been the man on his feet with his own hand weapons who has always decided the issue—and always will be. The development of aviation is the latest mechanical basis for a new gospel of the conduct of war; and it is this which has apparently captured the imagination of. Mr. Forbes and his colleagues. Experience in the war and since have shown the uses and manifest limitations of the air. and, contrary to all popular opinion, it is the most expensive arm of all ,tp, maintain.. As Mr. Forbes is concerned.' and rightly.so,. iii>b r taming full value for...every 'penny, spent on defence, this ■ is.'ari;. aspect ..of the case that he might well ponder over.—l am, , , > ..A.C. DIOKSON. '