"SCRAP THE NAVY!"

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 11, 14 January 1933, Page 10

"SCRAP THE NAVY!"

(Tq the Editor.) ' Sir, —As reported in your columns on! Thursday, the New Zealand No More War. movement has met in conclave'and decided, co far as it is concerned, to scrap the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy! This is very drastic action indeed, and it is fortunate that the New Zealand No' More "War movement is a very small baby, —only a few minutes old, so to speak—« when compared with the age of the institution which the best brains of the British! > Empire adown the centuries have seen fit to maintain for the better security of the lives and property of British citizens, and of which the New Zealand Division is a smali but valuable nucleus; otherwise New Zealariders in general might be "almost persuaded" without any such galling'procedure as stppping to think. Qualifications for an enthusiastic supporter of the New Zealand No More War movement's policy in '.this matter would appear to be a remarkably vague knowledge of Qur national history and total ignorance of the aims, ideals, and uses of the service through which it has drawn its blue pencil. We may; however, be indeed thankful ■ for the fact that th« adolescent brains of the bulk of the chik dren which New Zealand so proudly reat^ appear readily capable of grasping the faa| that the British Navy—in the form of Captain Cook, K..N., and his efficient crewK and ships—put New Zealand on the ma]» as a place for our habitation, and that that same Navy has, through the wisdor^ of our legislators since, been charged witl( the responsibility of providing a protect tive bulwark- within which the lights o$ New Zealand citizenship have been allowed to develop on the lines the people who hatfc the initiative to colonise the country hava most desired. The child-mind also readily admits the justice of our—as a small people—being expected to pay a very small portion of the cost of the world-wide protection afforded our interests and trade by the British Navy in its function of seeing that the rules of peaceful intercourse are observed in the face of the competitive nationalism which exists. Vaguely blinking within a fog of its own formation, -visualising distorted and imaginary images of both the past and the present, and failing utterly to appreciate the practical truths of its environment, ■the brain of the supporter of "complete disarmament" fails to discern that the use for good or for evil lies not in the weapon itself but in the mentality by which it is controlled. It is undue optimism, therefore, to expect it to conceive the fact that the legitimate use of a protective force is for the maintenance and furtherance of the purposes of peace, or to realise that unprotected property, whether belonging to individuals or nations, is frequently the origin of either aggression or dissension New Zealand's contribution to her naval defence is a small one, but she possesses a nucleus capable of expansion and cooperation with British or friendly forces should necessity arise. Those who argue that because it is- small therefore it is useless for defence miss very much the point. New Zealauders springing from seafaring stock, controlled in relationship with therest of tlie -world by a vast ocean, can and must maintain Ihe se.i spirit, whether in peace or iv war, as destiny may dictate, for their prosperity and'protection.—l am, etc., . : ■ - - E, L. CROSS, j