R.S.A. AND DEFENCE.

Evening Star, Issue 22067, 28 June 1935, Page 13

R.S.A. AND DEFENCE.

1 TO THE EDITOR: Sir,—Tread with ■ great' interest tha letters hy “ 8/1287 ” and. “ 2/1892,” and I am in complete agreement with the views expressed by them. However, there is one point which to my mind they,have missed. One speaker at the Returned Soldiers’ Assdfeiatiou meeting stressed the fact that a number of lives were sacrificed bn account of the shortage of efficiently-trained , officers and “non-coms.”; I would be obliged to the one responsible for this statement if he would inform me when and where’this loss, of, life occurred. T joined the New .Zealand .forces in 1914, and with the exception of the time' spent in hospital and on leave was with them till the Armistice. I have given the matter some thought, but I fail to remember any occasion on which the division collapsed when the efficiefTtlytrained officers, etc., were not there to lead them, and this was the position at times. My own experience has been that those who were promoted in the field were able to hold their own with the others, and I know of no instance where they failed in an emergency. The majority of the “ diggers ” were untrained ; practically their only assets were good health, the average amount \ of courage, and ' ability; to shoot straight, yet after a couple of months’ knocking into shape they were capable of taking their place amongst any troops. I would remind those responsible for the resolution that shiny buttons, close shaves, and-clean boots may make a brave showing in a procession in peace times, and I am willing to admit that a lot of good jobs would probably, be sticking out if their views were adopted by the Government and the Defence Force increased, but Wars are net 1 won on polish. And surely in ■is going too far when- a? rhandful of men view with alarm the inadequate Defence Force of this countrpand urge the Government to get busy -.and tram more officers and “ non-coms,”'as there may be another: wan Is it not within the bounds ;of, reason to!suppose that the Government knows that* war is a possibility, but declines to waste more money on defence : (which would be useless as far as defending New Zealand’s shores is concerned) when thousands—and not only returned pien—are down to the-bread line and below it P Even if all the members of the R.S.A. were in favour of increasing" the Defence Force—which they arc not—they represent only a small portion of the returned men, let alone the -rest of the J population, who, surely Rave some say m the-way their money is spent. If the R.S.A. confined itself to the object for which the association, was formed—namely, to assist returned men and their-, dependents—instead , of • wasting energy trying to imitate Hitler, it would find its membership increase without advertising, and it would then have the-support which it. now lacks.— I am.Jetd.,- : Jcst:a Pbxvate. June 28.