UNITED COURSE OF ACTION

Evening Post, Issue 98, 27 April 1936, Page 10

UNITED COURSE OF ACTION

N.Z. DEFENCE POLICY

AN EMPIRE MATTER

COLLECTIVE SECURITY

An important statement on the subject of New Zealand's future defence policy was made today by one who is interested in and qualified to speak on the subject. "The controversy which has taken place in the columns of the "Evening Post" recently regarding the importance of developing the air defence force of New Zealand," he said, "should prove, valuable, provided it induces the Government to provide an increased vote for air defence, but it is certain to do more harm than good if it only results in cutting down the votes for the naval and military forces in order to provide more for the newest arm of the services. The actual position may be summed up briefly as follows:— "1. The problem of the defence of New Zealand is not a purely New Zealand matter. ■ It is an Empire matter, a very definite case in which the principle of collective security alone can prevail, and must be regarded solely from that point.of view. The reason for this, selfishly put, is that New Zealand could not continue to exist as a free and independent State outside the British Empire. The new Prime Minister, the Hon. M. J. Savage, was sound in this when in March last, he expressed the conviction that at the present critical juncture there should be a round table conference between representatives'of the various parts of the British . Commonwealth of Nations to discuss and determine some united course of action, both in an economic and military sense, for the future. "2. This being the case no unilateral action can be .taken, or ought to be taken, by New Zealand in developing any particular arm' of the defence services without first receiving the endorsement of. the sister States of the British Empire. "3 The problem of Empire defence being a matter of collective security (assured by the States composing the British Empire all doing their part), New Zealand must agree to adopt the role allotted by the Empire's representatives, as, otherwise, there can be no co-ordination and mutual support in event of attack. New Zealand has never.failed in this in the past, and cannot venture to act independently in the future as those who do not share in the common effort of defence cannot expect to benefit by it. THREE SERVICES IMPORTANT. "4. New Zealand is not in a position to determine the highly-technical and relative merits of sea, land, and air defence. AH she can do is to develop her resources as advised by the highest and most responsible experts. All three services are immensely important, but whether any. one or two should be scrapped in favour of the third or one only scrapped in favour of the other two is an issue for the most qualified experts to advise upon. These experts, so far as the British Empire is concerned, are in London, and have the knowledge and the necessary means to put them to the proof. New Zealand, therefore, must seek guidance from there. "5. Those who favour the scrapping of the Navy on the ground that ships are threatened by aerial bombers are definitely confronted by the fact that all the first-class naval, military, and air Powers who have the most accurate information at their disposal are going in for bigger and better navies, larger armies, and greater air forces. Even Italy, which has air command of the Mediterranean, proposes, when the Abyssinian War is o.ver, to build a first-class navy in order to secure naval supremacy in the Mediterranean, while the effect of recent developments in that sphere has been to compel the immediate building of a £10,000,000 naval base at Cape Town. These three facts show that, while the importance of the air menace is realised, no single Power proposes to scrap its land and sea services, but on the contrary all firstclass Powers are engaged in a desperate effort to increase them. When this is the case—and it cannot be disputed—can New Zealand afford to act unilaterally and to do so on non-expert advice? "6. Great Britain lately has had to create a Ministry of Defence in order to co-ordinate the three services, and to see that one is not over-developed by sacrificing the others, which have their relative importance. SEA AND LAND DEFENCES. "7. The late Lord Jellicoe declared The sea is pur life.' New Zealand's well-being depends mainly on her seaborne trade, principally with the United Kingdom. In the event of war it is of vital importance to New Zealand that New Zealand's trade with the United Kingdom should proceed without interruption. In order to achieve this British naval supremacy is essential to escort and protect trading ships, which otherwise would have to remain in port. Is New Zealand not to continue to contribute towards. that supremacy? ■ "3. Similarly with the land forces. In the late war New Zealand did her part mainly by the provision of an Expeditionary Force. In the next war she may be called upon to provide for her own internal defence while the main issue is being decided elsewhere. If New Zealand has no internal Defenc.e Force by which she can do this who is going to do it for her? "9. New Zealand's naval and military forces, on account of the depression, have already been cut down to the lowest margin of effectiveness. They cannot be cut further without doing irreparable harm. To do so in order to increase the air vote, which is definitely inadequate, is to commit the sin of robbing Peter to pay Paul, and, in principle as well as in fact, to endanger the national safety. What New Zealand does in respect of the three Services should be done on the advice of the Imperial Conference asked for by Mr. Savage so that New Zealand can play her proper role in Empire defence by which she stands or falls. "10. New Zealand's .fate definitely is bound up with that of the Empire, and particularly with that of Australia. No one can question that. New Zealand, therefore, must act in unison with the Empire, and particularly with Australia—not unilaterally in one sphere only, which she is not in a position to judge.. "11. The correct course to adopt is that advocated so soundly by Mr. Savage, namely through the Imperial Conference which will have the necessary information and advice at its disposal. The New Zealand Labour Government will then be enabled to implement its defence policy on sound, effective, and approved lines without involving the country in enormous expense which may not be warranted and upon which no expert advice has been sought or given."