WARNINGS TO BRITAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15168, 6 December 1912, Page 7

WARNINGS TO BRITAIN.

LESSON OF THE BALKANS. u .... , PENALTY OF. INEFFICIENCY. ARMY UNPREPARED FOR WAR. TERRITORIALS 50,000 SHORT. ■ \ By Telegraph—Press Association.—Copyright. (Received December 5, 10 -p.m.) London, December 5. In a speech at the Alexandra Palace last night, the Marquis of Lansdowne (Secretary of State for War from 1895 to 1900) said that a conspicuous feature of the Balkan struggle was the terrible character of the penalty which followed inefficiency and unpreparedness for war. The British two-Power naval standard, he said, had disappeared, and also we were unprepared on land. The territorials were 50,000 short of the full establishment. The suddenness of the outbreak in. the Balkans, he added, afforded food for thought.

Ip- ■■« i ■■» LORD ROBERTS'S APPEAL. ADEQUATE ARMY NEEDED. London, December 4. In a letter to the Times Lord Roberts says:—"Lord Haldane talks loosely of our command of the sea as a profound strategical principle. The National Service League does not deny the necessity for a supreme navy, but an efficient army for home defence is indispensable to give the navy mobility. " The expenditure of an additional four millions would provide an adequate home army, and give freedom of action for the navy and overseas expeditionary forces."

LORD ROBERTS'S "WARNING. In his speech at Manchester on October 22 Lord Roberts said: —" We have a fleet, but that fleet is rapidly becoming unequal to the fleets by which we may be opposed, and by the inadequacy of our land forces it is maimed and "hampered in its very nature as a fleet. " hat, then is. my plan, and what is my ultimate counsel to the nation and the message to my countrymen at this solemn hour? It —' Arm and prepare to quit yourselves like .men, for the time of your ordeal is at hand.' A long time has been allowed us for preparation. Twelve years have been given to us, and in those years we have modified and remodified the effete voluntary system: we have invented several new names and a new ' costume. But as regards efficiency and as regards preparedness for ' war we .are practically where we were in 1900. . . . The territorial force is now an acknowledged failure—a failure in discipline, a failure in numbers, a failure in equipment, a failure in energy. Unless I am misinformed, the majority of the territorials are now in favour of compulsion. "I have commanded your armies in peace and in war. I say ,to you, the young men of this city and of this nation, that your enfranchisement is not complete until you have become soldiers as well as citizens, prepared to attest your manhood on the battlefield as well as at the election booths."

THE WARSHIP GIFTS. SUPPOSED INDIAN OFFER UNCONFIRMED. London, December 4. In the House of Commons to-day Mr. P. A. Molteno (Liberal member for Dumfriesshire) asked that before gifts of warships were accepted the Commons should be allowed to debate the obligations imposed upon the people of Britain by their acceptance. Mr. • Asquith said that the House of Commons could discuss the gifts during the debate on the Naval Estimates. He added that he had no information concerning the supposed offer of warships by Indian princes. iEeceived December 5, 11.50 p.m.) London, December 5. The Gaekwar of Baroda has telegraphed to the Daily Chronicle that he does not know anything of the proposed contribution to the Empire's navy by Indian princes and nobles. The idea, he says, is excellent, but it bristled with difficulties. AUSTRALASIAN DEFENCE.

RECIPROCITY PPOPOSALS. Melboihine, December 5. In the Senate yesterday Senator Pearce (Minister for Defence), in reply to a question, said that the Government contemplated conferring with New Zealand with reference to joint action in naval and military defence. Informal communications on the subject had already been exchanged.