NATIONAL SECURITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18563, 22 November 1923, Page 8

NATIONAL SECURITY.

There is matter for serious consideration in New Zealand as well as in Australia .in the speech by General Sir John Monash of which a report is published to-day. No one who has studied T his career would suggest that Sir John Monash is a militarist in the evil 'sense of the term, exploited by pacificists. By profession he is a civil engineer; during the? war, he rose from the obscurity of a minor command to the leadership of the Australian Army in France, and originated battle tactics that were adopted throughout „the British armies and formed a brilliant contribution to the final victory; to-day he is in charge of a great civil enterprise, the generation of electricity from the Morwell. b'rown coal deposits. Sir John Monash was beyond question a great soldier, but only under necessity. He bore- arms as a citizen, and, in spite of the honour he won in the field, returned to civilian life with an acute hatred of war— and a stronger sense than ever of the importance of national preparation for defence against aggression. He would probably protest" against such a positive discrimination between himself and professional soldiers on the ground that the latter are grossly misrepresented .by pacificist propaganda, but the contrast is nevertheless instructive. If the public will not heed the warnings of a man like Sir John Monash, who hopes for peace as ardently as he strove for victory and respite from the horrors of warfare, to whom will they, look for counsel? He says plainly that adequate measures of preparation against emergency are still necessary, and

that the safety of Australia is imperilled by the attitude of the people and their Parliament on defence questions. Whether the deterioration of the defence forces in New Zealand has proceeded as far a"s in Australia, or not, it is manifest that Sir John Monash's observations are generally applicable to the Dominion. Neither within nor without Parliament has the question been properly considered: the tendency has been to avoid it, and by constant reiteration* of faith in the world's desire for peace to create an illusion that we have no "anxiety, a deception that has already been twice shattered by threat of war. To follow Sir John Monash's advice would not be inconsistent with support of the League of Nations, for no British community need consider the question except from the point of view of defence. But, in the present state of the world, is the desire for peace alone a sufficient insurance, of national security? That is the question that must be answered before our defensive system is allowed to go to pieces.