DEBT TO THE NAVY

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 20, 24 July 1934, Page 4

DEBT TO THE NAVY

WHY HOSTILITY?

STUDENTS AND WAR

"WRONG, BUT SINCERE"

"In the . circumstances ; in - which we have placedi.ourselves I cannot '.understand any New Zealander who looks at the world with seeing eyes failing to recognise his debt to the British Navy," remarked Mr. J. B. Callan, K.C., in an address at the annual meeting of the Navy League last evening on the British Navy and t its Vital:, importance to the Empire. ; ,'■■ •;' " ''"■ ':■ "But from time to time, so far from this debt being recognised, hostility is shown by New Zealanders to any; form of military or naval effort. There was an example of this within the last few days. It took this form. The Now Zealand Government has announced a slight increase in the -expenditure foxdefence purposes. ' Aimeeting of. students at "Victoria > College;: representative of various college societies, has condemned the Government. It may be assumed from the language used by the speakers at this meeting, and from the terms of the resolution which, was carried, that they would be equally hostile to the increased y,ote. for air. defences which has recently been announced in England by Mr. Baldwin, and that they are opposed to the maintenance of a- strong navy. ' "Some people may say that it is a mistake to take any notice of the views of students, that they ought to be ignored in, the reasonable expectation that the passage of years and. experience of life will change their views. I don't think I agree. .-I think these particular students are quite wrong, but they are intensely sincere; they are at the stage in life when they' are apt to be filled by generous emotions, and it should never be forgotten. that the students of today will in much less than ten years' time be a dominant force in the formation of public opinion. Those' who'are now elderly or middle-agecl in all the countries of the world cannot deny that they have had for ,sqme years their individual opportunities of forming and influencing public opinion and national action, and we certainly cannot peprit to a very comfortable world as the result. THE CHRISTIAN ASPECT. "When the youth of today say impatiently that we have nirido such a irjss of things that they propose to take the conduct of affairs out of our hands, it is surely better to reason than' to retire .'into a silence which may be construed as an. inability to answer. Now one of - the things that, was said at this meeting; was that all war was un-ChTistiari: ' It. has:"always seemed to me'that the: fallacy here is .to assume that\ .each contestant must necessarily be guilty of un-Christian conduct. ; It is entirely, consistent "with my . conception of .Christianity to resist by force when - unjustly attacked. What would be the'right and duty of Nfew Zealanders if ' some-, entirely 'oreign people not of our race, possibly not of our colour, proposed forcibly to over-run this country? I have not heard anyone seriously maintain;that it/would be.wrong for us toI''resist, or wrong f*rus to.call upon Britain and '; the British Navy ' to protecfeifs. ' *£.";.'«,;-;■ ..:■•■ ■.-.'■ "If anyone'"says that 'suth.- a' situation is unthinkable, or impossible, I reply that were it'not that we have been and. still are'protected by our,membership: of a-great and powerful combination,' this very thing, would have happened to us.before.now... I. sometimes, wish those who talk generalities about the ethics of war would.get down to a .discussion of our particular situation. I wish they would remind us that'man is inherently selfish and greedy, and that many wars in the past have been occasioned by a clash of rival greeds, and that we in selfishly refusing to share with anyone /the enjoyment of this country are a perpetual danger to the peace of the world— a perpetual provocation to war. . : ', •-■-'. ' "Another speaker at the' students' meeting raised the old:story about the machinations of armament manufacturers. What these gentry may have done in the past or may bo able to do in the future in the way'of promoting war I don't .know,' but-in these days whole natibui. cannot be: hurled into war' unless they have, or imagine they have, spme,grievanc&: against each other. The .surest! way to avoid war is to remove the ."occasions for ill feeling and jealousy, and in a crowded world' empty countries which do not 1 support the proportion of mankind that they ought to support, are a perpetual cause of ill feeling and must finally cause -an explosion, even if np armament manufacturer is allowed to put a match to the dangerous: explosive. ''Anotherspeaker a.t the students' meeting wants the school history syllabus amended. ■By all means let us repress any'tendency, to jingoism or selfglorification; or undue nationalism or Pharisaical thanking of God -that we are not like other men. .But do not let us keep from our Children one great lesson that is to be -learned from history. That is this:-that the comfortless have ever been. ready to : despoil the comfortable, and have habitually done it whenever and wherever- :th'ey -Vwerestrong enough; that the: hungry will not remain hungry. in sight of any food of the well-fed which they are strong enough to take; that human nature being as it is, glaring inequality of possessions has caused strife and will cause it again. . ■■ , "BROTHERHOOD OB MAN." "Another student expressed the view that Capitalism was the source of all the trouble, and that the social structure of society must be reformed. 'The Brotherhood of Man' is a very beautf-. ful phrase. But how do those who most readily use it translate it into practice? Is it not a fact that opposition to immigration into', these' 'countries comes very often from.labour unions, both in New Zealand and in Australia? I do not suggest for a moment that the other classes of the community are any more helpful or'enlightened. My view is that all of us should bo in a hurry to get the dangerous emptiness of this country filled, and to fill it with fellow-citizens of our own choosing before we have to submit to it being filled for us by others whom, we have not chosen at all, and whom we may very much dislike. What we ought to do is first of all to increase our scandalously low birth rate, and second only to that, to encourage immigration whatever ~ discomfort this entails. Thcs.o things we should do, lest much greater discomforts befall us; and nieantiino we should support the British Navy, because it is "only under its powerful protection that we shall be allowed to have any choice in tho matter at all."