DOMINION’S DEFENCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 June 1930, Page 12

DOMINION’S DEFENCE

DEPUTATION TO PREMIER.

[PEE PBESS ASSOCIATION.]

WELLINGTON, June 17.

A large deputation, representing the National Defence League, waited upon ( the Prime Minister (Mr Forbes) and the Minister of Defence (Mr Cobbe) to-day, to urge that the compulsory system of military training in New Zealand should be retained,, and there should be no reduction in the land defence vote this year. Major-General Sir A. H. Russell, President of the National Defence League, introduced the deputation. He said that they realised it was necessary to make the closest scrutiny of finances, but they felt that defence was a form of .insurance that was needed, perhaps more than any other. The danger, unfortunately, lay in the background, and was therefore not apparent. It had been rumoured there were to be severe cuts and that the compulsory defence system was to be abolished. They believed that the defence system had been cut down to the most possible extent to which, it was safe to go. Speaking as one with very wide experience of the defence system, both volunteei’ and compulsory, he would say that the volunteer system would never give them what they wanted for adequate defence. It was at best camouflage, and would fall to pieces under the 'stress of war. Preparation in national defence was just as necessary as it was in business.

Major-General Russell’s arguments were supported by Lieut.-Colonel Avery, Dr. Bowerbank, Mr Chaterfield, and Mr W. Perry. In his reply, the Prime Minister said that one could not help but be impressed by the representative character of the deputation and by the arguments that it had advanced. There could be no question of the sincerity of the speakers. One speaker had stated the expenditure on other departments should be adjusted so that it would not be necessary to touch the Defence Department, and he only wished it was such a simple matter as the speaker apparently thought it to be. (Laughter). The fact of the matter was every department thought that if a single pound was taken off their expenditure it would react to the detriment of the country. There could be no doubt that at the present time there was a demand right throughout the country for a reduction in public expenditure. “We have to recognise,” said Mr Forbes, “that we have been going along for some years now on a fairly prosperous level, and now that we are faced with the necessity of sustaining ourselves on a reduced income, we are finding it a painful process. There is no doubt that there must be considerable reduction in expenditure. In regard to the land defence vote, we will have to see if we are getting value for the money we are expending.” Mr Forbes added that at present they were carrying on the territorial system in face of some opposition. He did not know how many thousands of prosecutions had been 'for offences under the Act. The Minister of Defence: There were 860 last year. Mi- Forbes said that men who were put into camp against their will were not likely to make very good soldiers. During the war they had been told time and time again, that raw material was, better to work on than material which came from the Territorial forces. He had heard that stated time and time again, and arguments which had been advanced by General Russell and Mr Perry, that morning had not been heard very much during the war period. Since the introduction of the military training system in New Zealand, there had been considerable alteration in connection with the science of warfare. Aviation was a branch of defence that, was being developed very considerably in other countries, and it was a question whether New Zealand should not endeavour to keep pace with those developments instead of spending money on land defence.

The Prime Minister stated it was not the intention of the Government to scrap the whole of the defence system. What the Government intended to do was to make a close study of the whole position, in other words to overhaul the system and endeavour to improve it so they would get value for the money they expended. He was not one of those who believed that the days of war were over. They had not yet reached that stage when they could say “All is peace.” He believed however, they were making a certain amount of progress towards that happy goal, although he agreed they could not afford completely to abandon defensive measures. In considering the whole question, Cabinet would keep before it the representations which had been made by the deputation.