LAND FORCES WANTED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 92, 20 April 1939, Page 14

LAND FORCES WANTED

MENACE OF JAPAN

RAIDS FROM MARSHALL ISLANDS

Bombing attacks on New Zealand by aircraft loosed from carriers brought to within 500 miles of the coast, or a direct largescale invasion from transports, are not "fantastic" propositions in the opinion of the Hon. W. Perry, M.L.C., who, in a New Zealand Defence League address to some 1500 persons at the Town Hall last evening, pointed out that Japan held the Marshall Islands, only 2100 miles from Australia and 2500 miles from Auckland. The islands, he said, could be used as an assembling base for aircraft-carriers and transports, and Britain might have her hands full in the next Avar in looking after the United Kingdom and trade routes feeding it. Mr. Perry advocated a force of 30,000 trained men, who had served three months in camp and three or four years in the Territorials, as a deterrent to any foreign Power. The early part of the meeting was presided over by the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop), w rho urged the need for fighting for democracy —liberty of thought, liberty -of action, and liberty of justice The tense international situation was growing more tense hour by hour.

said Mr. Perry, and was filling the whole world with alarm; and in the view of the Defence League it was essential that the democracies of the world should take stock and endeavour to analyse the events that had led up to the present position. When Germany violated the neutrality pledge to Belgium in 1914, describing the treaty as a "scrap of paper," the world was horrified, but now it appeared that the rule of law in international affairs had gone, and the rule of force, for the time being at any rate, had taken its place. "ORGY OF TREATY-BREAKING." The world was no longer horrified at the breaking of treaties. The orgy of treaty-breaking had started in 1931 when Japan, a member of the League of Nations, invaded Manchuria. That was the first real test of the efficacy of the League, and, unfortunately for the world, it failed in the test. Since then Abyssinia, the Rhineland, Spain, China, Austria, and Czechoslovakia had all been stages for the breaking of treaties. Mr. Perry quoted the respective amounts spent or allotted by 'Germany and Britain on Te-armament, and said that the enemies of Britain were not going to wait until she was prepared for war. Between 1931 and 1939 Japan had scored a series of triumphs by her seizure of various islands, and for the .democracies it had been a series of humiliations. The reason for that was that because of disarmament the democracies had not been strong enough to make their voices heard in the councils of the nations. Britain was still waiting for a sign from Germany that Germany was willing to meet the nations in a roundtable conference. No sign had been forthcoming; on the contrary, every action had shown that the objective was war. The implications of the termination of the Spanish war to the British Commonwealth of Nations were serious. Franco won, largely with the assistance of Germany and Italy, and it seemed less than human nature if he were not friendly with those who had helped him. A free and independent Spain had been a cardinal point, in British foreign policy for 300 years. What of Gibraltar in the event of war? Would it then block the western end of the Mediterranean to enemy ships, or would it block the western end of the Mediterranean to British ships? It was a position that was fraught with the greatest danger: if Gibraltar went the British life-line through the Suez to India was gone. What had been the quid prx> quo between Germany and Mussolini over the occupation of Austria by Hitler? The conclusion some thinkers arrived at was that the quid pro quo was a free hand for Mussolini in the Mediterranean and in Spain. Quoting from a prophetic letter written in 1936 by Sir Andrew Russell, G.O.C. the New Zealand Division in the Great War, Mr. Perry said that Britain was approaching dangerous cross-roads with blind corners at the entrances; she might get through safely, but there might be an unholy smash. Many people had blamed Mr. Chamberlain over the Munich Agreement, but Governments should not be blamed when the people themselves would not get behind them. The German team, under Hitler, went into training in 1933, but England, under Mr Baldwin, did not. As a result, when the match came to be played at Munich, Mr. Chamberlain had to call it off. ISOLATION OF RUSSIA. Hitler scored two great diplomatic triumphs at Munich. He drove a wedge between France and Russia, with the result that Russia was now practically an isolated force so far as European Power politics were concerned; and he broke the Little Entente, which had been allies with France and therefore allies with Russia. Thus, after seventy years, the dream of Bismarck was realised—the domination of Europe by the control of the basin of the Danube. On the credit side, Britain had gained time (and every hour counted for the democracies), and had gained the support of the democratic opinion of the world.,. The statement by Roosevelt was one of the greatest pronouncements ever made by a leader of a democracy. What were the possibilities for New Zealand in the event of the enemy Powers being lined against Britain? asked Mr. Perry. The first concern of Britain was the defence of the United Kingdom; the second, guarding the trade routes feeding it; and the third, the watching of strategic points in the Empire. New Zealand came under the third heading, and the only inference was that in the next war Great Britain's hand might be so full defending herself that overseas nations must stand on their own feet and defend their own shores. And there was no reason why other nations should not defend themselves.

The people of New Zealand had never done their fair share so far as Empire defence was concerned except between the years 1914 and 1918. They relied for defence primarily upon the British Navy. For the year ended March 31, 1938, the British taxpayer paid £9 10s in New Zealand cui-jrency for defence purposes generally, and in New Zealand the taxpayer paid £1 ss.

The New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy, which had consisted of one cruiser and two sloops, had been doubled. Credit had to be given to the Government for the very considerable progress that had been made in the past three years in the expansion of the Air Force, and for the Defence Conference that had been arranged to be held in Wellington; but where the Government, and the people, had fallen down was in the provision oi

an adequate land force for the I Dominion. New Zealand had an establishment of 9000 men. That was in 1936, the days of the League of Nations and collective security, and was a wholly miserable and inadequate establishment, to use the words of Sir Andrew Russell. When he said that, continued Mr. Perry i he was not referring to the personnel of the Territorials. Everyone in New Zealand should take their hats off to those men of the Territorials who, for years past, despite discouragement and public apathy, and doing their jobs with skeleton platoons, had done their job to the best of their ability; but in order to give them a chance, and the country a chance, that establishment had to be at least doubled, and doubled in the near future. "CINDERELLA OF THE SERVICES." Despite the naval defence New Zealand enjoyed—it was not very formidable—and despite the expansion of the Air Force, the country was going to be in a very parlous state if attack came. The land forces for years past had been the Cinderella of the services. The majority of the people thought that the country could be defended by naval power and air power, but what was wanted more than anything else was trained man power. Land forces should he regarded as the last and most important line of defence if New Zealand were going to be preserved as a country. People might regard the threat of a bombing attack or an invasion as fantastic, said Mr. Perry, but there was more than a possibility of a bombing attack on the Dominion from Japan. When there was trouble over Abyssinia the greater portion of the Pacific Fleet was in the Mediterranean protecting the heart of the Empire, where it should, have been. In the Czechoslovakian crisis it was heading for the Atlantic and elsewhere, and while it was there Japanese ships were cruising off New Guinea. Assuming that that Power were lined against the Empire and the United States did not come in, Australia? and New Zealand would be laid bare, open to attack. Japan now held the Marshall Islands, 2100 miles from Australia, and 2500 miles from Auckland. \ What was to prevent Japan from assembling two aircxaft-carriers at the Marshall Islands and loosing bombers 500 miles from the New Zealand coast? They could bomb Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, and be home for lunch.. It was not an exaggeration, it was a feasible proposition. ' ■ i Japan could also build ten or twenty transports, and, at fifteen knots, reach New Zealand for a large-scale raid in eight days. The suggestion was so "fantastic" that in the last six months the whole of Australia's defence policy had changed, and she was now building up a force of seventy to seventyfive thousand men to act as a deterrent to any foreign Power. If the Dominion had some 30,000 fully-equipped and trained men, who had spent three months in continuous training in camp and had then served three or four years in the Territorials, he would submit that no country would attempt to invade New Zealand because the prize would not be worth the price. SOLDIERS, NOT RECRUITS. "We emphasise that not only must we have naval protection and extension of the Air Force, but we emphasise and emphasise again the value of trained man power, and the men must be trained beforehand," said Mr. Perry. "We want soldiers, not recruits." One would have thought that after | the September crisis the force would I have been trebled, and now it remainicd to see what would result from the Prime Minister's appeal. If the voluntary system failed, the Defence League advocated compulsion. Not only the young and fit would give their services: there would be a national register of men and women, young and old, and each would be given a ticket with a job to do in the event of an j I emergency. If they could not do their | job they would have to pay. "We in this country believe in government by democracy," concluded Mr. Perry, "It has its imperfections, but we prefer it to the government practised by totalitarian States. If people are not willing to fight against the strength and brutality of the totalitarian Powers that system will go. At the present time democracy has its back to the wall, and we have to admit that for some years past the peoples of the totalitarian States have made sacrifices in peacetime that we would hesitate to make in time of war. I assure you that they are going to be hard to beat, but we can beat them if we train. A democracy which asserts the right of manhood suffrage while denying manhood service is living in- a fool's paradise."

Mr. E. Reeves addressed the meeting on the objects of the Defence League, and motions of thanks to the speakers were moved by the Deputy Mayor (Mr. M. F. Luckie) and Mr. W. H. Barnard, president of the Wellington branch of the league.