SECURITY OF EMPIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18342, 7 March 1923, Page 9

SECURITY OF EMPIRE.

DANGEROUS ECONOMIES. MILITARY WRITER'S WARNING PLEA FOR SAFETY FIRST. By Teloitiaph-Preag Association—Copyright. A. and N.Z. LONDON. March 5. Colonel Repington, writing in the Daily Telegraph, says: After studying the results of the war in Europe and America I find that other nations in the matter of defence have followed the policy of safety first. We have not. We seem to jbe the only State in the world, not excepting the United States, which has j reduced peace, establishments to a danger j point, oven for the Empire's internal [security. Fjnance and politics have been our guide, not fact« and foresight. We not only jettisoned the armed forces j which won the war, but inexcusably 1 neglected the lessons of war which should have become the Empire's inalienable inheritance, and should be applied for the , frustration of designs imperilling peace. j "We have had," ho says, "no anj nouncement of the present state of inter- . Imperial relations in regard to defence. Before the war we knew the Dominions : were working with us; now we do not , know where we stand, except that politic- ! i ally Britain cannot commit the Dominions ; without consultation. The Navy has been I cut to the bone our Air Force is in- ; capable of playing a serious part in home ] defence, and our Army would not bear comparison with the pre-war force, which ; proved most inadequate." j In conclusion Colonel Repington states: | " The Government's first business, as ad- : vised by the Committee of Imperial Defence, is to evolve a plan to place the Empire in a position of security to maintain treaties and preserve peace. This ■is an indispensable preface to economical administration."