DEFENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14982, 30 April 1909, Page 4

DEFENCE.

MR J. ALLEN, M.P., AT MILTON. [Prom Our Correspondent.] MILTON, April 29. At Milton last night Air J. Allen, M.P., addressed a meeting of his constituents on the subject ot defence. Ho alluded at length to the wild rate at which shipbuilding is proceeding in Germany and Britain, causing a burden that was bearing those countries and others down. Those who had read the debate on the British naval estimates must come to the conclusion that in 1910 or 1911 not only would Britain have lest her two-Power. standard, but the chances were that Germany would be more than equal to her. It was necessary now to define a new expression, “ control of the sea.” Any scheme involving a subsidy or otherwise, ultimately meant, as wo were coming to the Mother Country’s aid, that the Mother Country must give us representation. To his mind what they ought to do was to endeavour to get this representation ; for ono reason in order that our people might bo assured that some definite policy applicable to the whole Empire was to be followed, each part doing its share; and, for another reason, because without tins representation Wo were in the dark as to what was being done and as to the reason for the expenditure of our money. Then it should be decided as to how much each portion should give towards the main fleet. If anything whs necessary to be given by tbe outlying portions towards the main fleet in addition to that, the various portions of the British Empire interested in particular seas should, in his notion, join hands to police those seas and to protect their trade routes. He had no doubt he was long before the time in these ideas in New Zealand, but he could not • help believing that ultimately we must come _ to Some such conclusion as he had just hinted. He put these ideas forward;-in order that they might sink into the public mind, and be gauged for what they' wore worth. He had only time further to come to particulars with regard to Now Zealand, and he wished to point out, first of all, that the Imperial Conference, which.sat only two or three years ago, made it pei-fect-ly clear to all the outlying portions of the Empire that they must provide for their own local security. _ It was true there was in Australian waters the Commonwealth squadron. He believed it. would bo a righteous and a just tiling for us to say to the British Government, “ We will relieve. you of the responsibility of your Australasian squadron and of the expense,” for some of the vessels were of little use to us. In his opinion the Australians were going on,entirely right lines generally, though he was not prepared to agree with all their details; more than that they were backed up by expert opinion, as expressed at the Colonial Conference. They had adopted a statesmanlike proposal for the defence of their shores. Would that we in New Zealand had some statesman at the head of affairs who could take a similar grasp of the situation and make some such provision. He could not view tho situation in New Zealand and the attitudo of the powers that be without gravo disquietude. We \.oro relying upon a Volunteer system. We had inadequate ..harbour defences. Docks and other works were not protected as they ought to be. He gave every praise to these of our people who belonged to the Volunteers. Their devotion to their work and their self-sacrifice were beyond all praise, and ho did Hot hesitate to 6ay that’ they were moro efficient than they were some years ago. There was_ much more work required of them than in the past, but there were, practically speaking, only a few, and there were men who ought to bo giving time to prepare for the defence of their country who simply scoffed; at those who. were doing this duty, and that state of-things could not be endured any longer. Apart from that, the Volunteer system itself did not produce tlio results. required. Ho had only to call attention to last Easter and to tho facts as they were disclosed in the Otago district. In that district there was supposed to be 4730 officers, non-commissioned officers and men. . The actual strength of the corps was 3776, and the attendance -at tile Easter camp was 1414, including 64 bandsmen and 307 cadets, so that about 1034 were all the actual Volunteers of mature age who turned out. He was not going that night into the efficiency of this forcib. There was not time, and he referred his hearers to the In-spector-General’s report of last year. Though lie had hung on as a Volunteer officer year after year in the hope that things would better themselves and that -the young men of the country would realise what patriotism really was, he \yas now forced into the position’ that the whole thing was on wrong lines and was a great waste of money. They had tried reforming the commandant, they had tried a Defence Council, and it was to he re-formed, but the evil was not there. The evil was deeper than that. It- lay in the whole system, and he unhesitatingly said that tho time had come when it was neces-

sary to enter upon a system of universal training, where everybody would givo something,. at any rate, of this time and of his ability to the service of his country. The Prime Minister had frightened the people with the word “ conscription:” Those who favoured universal training had no such idea in their mind, and nothing was further away from the idea of universal .training than this bugbear of conscription. ,It was not that they were after. What they were after was a system that had been tried elsewhere and which had proved /to a /large extent a success. Such a system from his reading did not interfere with industrial capacities. It aided towards the development of the true citizen. He did not believe that the national training should end at twenty-one years, as the Defence Minister had hinted. He believed in beginning with the cadet and'carrying on the training consecutively to twentyone, and he also thought from that time onward our men should be brought out annually for a certain amount of training, so that in the oourse of time there might bo such a force ready to take arms that even, the most powerful nation approximate to us would, hesitate to come'into conflict with us. He was aware that this needed more than thetraining of men. It needed equipment and ammunition and other things, the details of which he would not go into. We werp told that, so far as Now Zealand was concerned, it was our business to look after the defence of our own shores. We could not shirk this responsibility, and wo could not make preparation for it in a day. It took years of preparation, and. that was where the statesman came in.y He had to look forward and see not just what was immediately before hie view, hut the possibilities of the years to come. Ho looked forward to the day when the Commonwealth, New Zealand and Canada might join hands to produce a Pacific fleet which would keep clear for us the trade routes of the Pacific, paid for out of our owirmoney ajid manned by our own men. >. ' Mr Allen was thanked for his address, and a motion was., carried in favour of universal training both for naval and military defence. i