Nelson Evening Mail WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1939 TERRITORIAL RECRUITS NEEDED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 18 January 1939, Page 6

Nelson Evening Mail WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1939 TERRITORIAL RECRUITS NEEDED

FOR a long time past the New Zealand Defence League has been strenuously endeavouring to create a public opinion in favour of adequate defence forces. Its efforts have been supported by the Returned Soldiers’ Association and other organisations, and in recent months by the Government, which, however, had paid less attention to the territorial forces than to the other arms of defence. As the Prime Minister said in an announcement published yesterday, there is not likely to be any difficulty in getting a supply of men of the right type, as required, for service in the air, “but the position of the territorials was not a particularly happy one.” Provision for aerial defence has apparently been developing satis- 1 factorily. The same cannot be said in regard to the land forces. The Minister of Defence and his officers have been working to build the territorial force up to peace-time strength of 9000, but, says Mr Savage, “they were up against a lack of interest in the community in general.” He added that while many employers were making it easy for young men to attend camps, the average civilian took no interest in the territorials, and young men were not made to feel that they were doing the right thing. “This state of things should not exist. The issues are too serious. When the General Officer Commanding presented his last annual report and referred to the necessity for a peace-time force of 9000, of whom a large portion would be potential leaders, he pointed out that the total of all ranks then was 7112, of whom only 41 per cent, attended the training camps. The Government took steps to popularise recruiting,* increased the rate of pay and allowances, and arranged for the teaching of trades. The position has improved since, but, as the Prime Minister has emphasised, there has not been the full response deemed necessary. It is of interest to recall that under the compulsory training scheme just prior to the war the strength of all ranks was 25,902. In the last year of the voluntary system. which was deemed to have failed, the volunteer forces numbered 14,249. While the Defence League advocates a form of compulsory

training it does not oppose the voluntary system; its one concern is that a sufficient number of trained men should be available. As the President of the League (the Hon. W. Perry) emphasised recently: “The need for trained men is urgent and grave. The British Commonwealth of Nations may be fighting for its existence within the next six months. We shall then find that what is needed in a war is soldiers, not recruits, and what is also needed is a civilian population prepared and trained to defend itself at home. It is desired that if war must come, it should be war, not massacre. It has been suggested that this was an alarmist attitude, but no one who follows world events closely will argue that it is not wise to be prepared. A knowledge by potential enemies of adequate defence preparation may stave off attack. When Mr Perry made his recent appeal for support of a realistic defence policy, the Prime Minister replied that “the whole position of defence was better than it had ever been in the history of New Zealand.” That, of course, was not correct as far as it concerns the land forces, as published figures already demonstrate. The matter is not one of politics, but of national safety in a time of possible emergency. The Defence League s appeal in which Mr Savage now joins, in effect, is to all sections of the community. The young men of the country, while a duty of citizenship and self-preservation devolves upon them, must not be expected to carry the whole burden; employers must do their full share, as the Prime Minister and several of his colleagues have advocated. We trust the response will be wholehearted and that all in a position to assist in attaining the desired and necessary objective, will give the appeal full support and encouragement.