THE PATRIOT ABROAD.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16431, 24 December 1913, Page 8

THE PATRIOT ABROAD.

It sounds all very fine and large for Mr A. M. Myers to talk at the Colonial Institute in the spacious way of the patriot abroad of New Zealand joining with Australia and Canada in relieving Great Britain of " the defence of the Pacific," but we doubt if the member for Auckland East intended that his words should be taken quite literally. The Mother Country herself has not undertaken the defence of the Pacific, if the phrase means dominating the naval situation in the great oceaii, and she is never likely to attempt anything of the kind unless the balance of power in the Old World is greatly changed during the next hundred years. Under existing conditions the United States and Japan must inevitably maintain overwhelming forces in thi3 ocean and even if Canadian statesmen should ever become as aspiring as the Hon James Allen and Mr Myers appear to be they would be compelled to confine the main part of their efforts to the defence of the coast lines of their own country. Fifty years hence Australia and New Zealand may bo able to make themselves reasonably secure against foreign aggression with a navy of their own, but to talk of doing this now or even within a decade is to talk nonsensical bombast. Already this country is well on the way to the expenditure of a million a year on defencp and if Mr Allen should ever realise his dream of a New Zealand navy this sum would be largely exceeded. By all means let us give what assistance we can in the maintenance of the integrity of the Empire—in money and in men—but let us also provide for our own effective defence by settling our lands and filling our empty spaces. New Zealand still wants millions for development works and every pound put into warships will be so much diverted from this purpose with no possibility of an adequate return. Relieving Great Britain of the defence of the Pacific—a task she has never undertaken herself—would mean these young countries entering the naval rivalry that is crippling the older nations and delaying by half a century the peaceful achievements that would be their greatest service to the Empire.