The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, MAY 17, 1909. NATIONAL DEFENCE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 118, 17 May 1909, Page 4

The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, MAY 17, 1909. NATIONAL DEFENCE.

The question of national defence is in the forefront now, and it should be kept there till some adequate method of defending the country has been evolved. It appears to be generally : admitted that the Volunteer system has had its day, and must now give ; place to something better. It is ; simply playing with the question for.: a mere handful of enthusiasts to en-;; gage in military training, while the j great bulk of the male population look on with indifference, if they do not ; indeed regard volunteering as i some- : thing to be ridiculed rather than ap-: plauded. The time has arrived when ' it should be brought home ..forcibly, to every man in the community that it is his duty to defend his own home, i and not to expect someone else to do : it for him. If the country is worth defending it is the duty of those who, occupy it to provide.for effective defence. Some there were at the recent! noisy meeting at Wellington who de- i dared that New Zealand is not -'worth j defending! Neither it would.,,be if.■ these idiots constituted the bulk of, its,j, population, but fortunately the peoples are as a whole sane, and may be. j trusted to strike a blow for-themselves !■ should occasion arise. Whether that, blow would be successful in keeping, the grand old flag flying largely depends upon whether New Zealand's defenders are an armed rabble or a properly disciplined force. This is! reasoning that should appeal to the

noisy knot ' di wasters, who prevented s Mr McNab' from being heard at the meeting- refi&Jrfed to-^iiVLhenevei- 'those individuals have a'lucid interval, that is if they are ever, favored.,with one. , It is difficult.to understand the posi- j tion of these r. people, but if we may j argue from their actions it may be assumed that they would be perfectly willing to look on from,behind some safe shelter, and howl while ■other people defended them. They could howl all right, H :but this would be their only eontribut'ipri' to the conflict, and it would scarcely be effective in scaring an enemy. It might, however, result in their being treated with special severity by a conqueror. So in this respect there would be a remote possibility of their obtaining their deserts! There' Can be "no ■gainsaying the contention that-this fair land, with its vast resources already developed, and, its immense potentialities, would be regarded by an enemy as a most desirable prize, a prize that in its present state of unpreparedness-could.be easily snapped up. Our chief protection lies in the;'strength of the British fleet; to which'we have just offered a notable contribution. There are people who say that our Dreadnought should i be in New Zealand waters, to: guard j our boundaries. But these are individuals of limited vision who fail to recognise that New Zealand's boundaries would be better protected *in the North Sea, where the conflict might be thickest, than in waters around our coast, where no battle was raging. If Australasian Dreadnoughts were to be kept in their own waters, idling while the contest for supremacy was raging in far; off seas, they would be just-where an enemy would wish them to be. Patriotic New Zealanders would certainly desire their ships to be in. the thick of-the fight, instead of cruising idly and aimlessly at home. So much for ithe first and most important line of defence. But as a second line, and one by means of which any roving aggressors couiu be repelled, or a last stand be made in case the first line tailed, the New Zealand coast should be properly fortified, and the" male inhabitants of the country should be efficiently trained. THe proper time for training is during time of peace, and not when arms are clashing and the din of battle is in the air. The Hon. R. McNab has started on a 'mission throughout' the Dominion for the purpose of detailing his proposals and arousing an interest in them: In c'the course of his peregrinations he will visit Blenheim and Picton, and a clear appreciation of the position will no doubt result from his utterances. There is one consideration that forces itself upon attention in contemplating this question. This is that apart from the all important rieed for teaching the people,how best to defend their country, there are the incidental advantages that the training to arms and the inculcation of habits of discipline would confer; Yourig men' who now devote more than a fair share of their time to football and other forms of sport ■<■ would be1 Constrained to' give some attention to the infinitely greater duty of defence. Then again the idle youths who congregate under every verandah arid at every street corner, and make themselves objectionable by their conduct and their conversation-T----en joying meanwhile a strange immunity from, police. interference— would be, better occupied in the drill shed learning the "goose step" and other evolutions dear to the heart of the drill sergesant. And the noisy ' crowd of Socialists -who 'descend like ' a plight upon public meetings arid" manifest their want of intelligence by shouting down every speaker, these gentry would have also to toe the mark and learn the arts of discipline and the use of weapons they affect to despise. Either this, or they could get out of a country they presume to regard as being not worth defending. . In the latter' case they never would be missed. .