New Zealand’s Defence if War Comes

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 61, 14 March 1938, Page 8

New Zealand’s Defence if War Comes

DANGER POINTED OUT Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, March 12. Reference was made to-day by the Dominion president of thr New Zealand Defence League, the Hon. W. Perry, M.L.C., to a statement in the House of Commons on Monday by Mr. Neville Chamberlain that the £1,500,000,000 which was announced two years ago as the sum to be spent on armament over a period of three years would not now be sufficient for Mr. Chamberlain to lay down as a basis of British defence policy. The three objectives were: l,e Defence of the United Kingdom. 2, Defence of trade routes that feed it. 3, Maintenance of naval bases and strategic points in various parts of the world. “It is this third point that immediately concerns New Zealand,” said Mr. Perry, “because Mr. Chamberlain stated that that objective was not as vital as the defence of Great Britain, because so long as Great Britain was not defeated at Home, even if she sustained losses overseas, she might have an opportunity to make it good afterwards. This statement appears to visualise the possibility of the seizure of New Zealand by a foreign Power in the event of war, and it is of the greatest importance that the people of New Zealand should be exhorted to appreciate the danger.” Mr. Perry addresses a meeting of the women members of the Wellington branch of the league on Tuesday, and will discuss the position of the overseas Dominions, particularly New Zealand, jin view of the warning uttered recently by Mr. Chamberlain.