NATIONAL SECURITY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 30 January 1939, Page 9

NATIONAL SECURITY

DEFENCE LEAGUE ASKED A QUESTION (To Tbe Editor) Sir,—ln view of the meeting tomorrow night and the presence of responsible members of the Defence league there is a question that I wish ;o put to them. It is this:— Had Mar broken out in October, or, if it breaks out in the next few months, how many men can New Zealand arm and equip with the necessary rifles, machine guns, field artillery, grenades, and so forth? If the Minister of Defence is asked .his question he will certainly evade it jnless there are ample arms for the .vhole manhood of the country. He is ivithin his rights to refuse, although we nay be quite sure that potential jnemies know our exact strength in ;his respect. I suggest, however, that ;he responsible officials of the League i should ask for and obtain this informj ation in confidence, and then if we ( have their assurance that all is well one | of our chief anxieties will be removed. 1 While every other unit in the Empire is arming to the teeth and prepar- | ing for the desperate trial of strength that is coming nearer every day, we sit back and do nothing but talk puerilities about aerial defence. Our aerial defence would, by itself, be about as useful as ; Maori war canoes. To our shame be it i said that we are after years of warning the only really weak and defenceless 1 unit in the Empire. What use is our much vaunted "standard of living” and 1 "Social Security” and the millions diverted to these ends, when some at least of the millions should have been applied to what is infinitely more important, viz., National Security? It would be difficult to find even the shadow of an excuse for our criminal negligence in regard to defence. We can only hope that it is not already too late. As I have again and again pointed out in your columns it is not a few thousand young men that we need. We need, if we need anything, the whole manhood of the country. Actually we have about four thousand. We need a hundred thousand. This is no alarmist cry—it is the common sense and logical outcome of the situation. But, first and foremost we need arms for them. We may get a breathing space to train an army, but once war breaks Out we can get no arms.—l am etc. DEFENCE. Nelson, 30th January.