Defence Forces

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 154, 15 June 1935, Page 6

Defence Forces

(To the Editor). Sir, —Your correspondent, J. B. Yorkist evidently believes in personalities in preference to opinions. Mr McLeod was perfectly right in drawing his attention to the facts in my letter, and also, of course, in his assumption that water rates are communistic in principle. I might add to that roads, bridges and a host of other public services. To say that borough rating is not communistic, because the council arranges a loan is equivalent to saying that Russia becomes a capitalist country if any other country extends credit to her. And poor Karl Marx! It is surprising how many different arguments can be gleaned from the pages of ‘‘Das Kapital,” by those who have not read it.

The question of a defence force, however, is one that is likely to loom large on the horizon, and it is up to anyone who has any sense of values to try to stop the futility before it goes any further. All forces nowadays are, ostensibly, defence forces; the fact is made much of. The hundred night bombers that the British Government has recently ordered are part of the scheme of defence. Since Britain is an island, the only conclusion one can come to is that they will be used to bomb their own country—rather a senseless proceeding surely, unless they intend to wipe out sonic of the mentally C 3 population which their own rotten system of education has produced. The defence business has no limit; in order to defend ourselves against Germany’s 300 planes we must build 350; but Germany works on the siimc plan, and must promptly build 400 j and so on. It isn’t tho farmer who reaps a fat harvest oul of that little game; and if he did ii would be his duty to stop i.t.

Ultimately, the only way to prevenl -his and many other evils will be a change in our system. However, that is altogether too much to expect. 1 would offer ns an alternative oecupa tion to Defence Force Frolics that the members put aside half an hour each evening to an attetnut. to solve, the problem of how it is that our representatives are haggling abo. t our

“ surplus 11 meat while seemingly oblivious of men on starvation diet in their own fair country. Quite an interesting problem surely; but perhaps a good hard crossword puzzle would be more to the point, acting on the assumption that “a crossword puzzle a day keeps the generals away.”—Yours, etc., lAN HAMILTON. June 15, 1935.