DEFENCE EXPENDITURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17964, 14 December 1921, Page 11

DEFENCE EXPENDITURE.

DRASTIC REDUCTION URGED. PRESBYTERY'S RESOLUTION. " INTOLERABLE, UNJUSTIFIABLE." A drastic reduction in the defence expenditure of the Dominion was urged by the Auckland Presbytery last evening. The moderator, the Rev. F. Hales, presided. The subject was introduced by the Rev. C. J. Tocker, who moved: " That in the light of the spirit which has found expression in the Disarmament Conference and particularly rn view of the Pacific Treaty, and having regard to the present financial stringency, this presbytery re-, spectfully urges the Government to mnke further drastic reductions in the defence expenditure of the country." Mr. Tocker said an infinitesimal reduction had been made in the expenditure, but, despite much talk of what had been done, it was still on a scale quite beyond .what was necessary for the country. As an instance of the amount of money expended by this department when money was urgently needed in others, Mr. Tocker said tnat though there was a great shortage of t3lephones there were 19 defence telephones in. Auckland. Tho Customs Department, with its enormous volume of business, had only six, and the Education Department, perhaps the most important, also had only six. He could not overstate the beneficent effect of the disarmament conference at Washington. The Pacific Treaty had even more faT-reaching effects, for it removed a vital danger to Australia and New Zealand. ', In light of what had taken place, the present defence arrangements wpre intolerable. In seconding the motion the Rev. D. C. Herron said the present expenditure was quito unjustjriable j other speakers also supported the motion. The opinion was expressed that if the emergency arose the Dominion, as the result of the war, had enough trained men to obviate expenditure on a scale approaching the present. The motion was carried.