NATIONAL DEFENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20364, 19 September 1929, Page 13

NATIONAL DEFENCE.

pujx of; preparedness.

APPEAL TO AUSTRALIANS.

GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S SPEECH.

A stirring appeal for military preparedness was made by the Governor-General of Australia, Lord Stonehaven, in a speech at a military function in Sydney last, week.

"We are living," Lord Stonehaven said, " at a time when war, and war on a scale sucli as the world has never before seen, is a recent memory; and, as has always happened in the world's history at such a time, men and women are centring all their efforts on devising some sort of machinery for preventing quarrels between nations degenerating ever again into armed conflict. In the past, the machinery devised under such auspices has been successful for varying periods of time

" No man who has been through war can help doing his utmost to prevent his children and his neighbours' children from going through it, but it would be a sad thing if the youth of a country decided that it was absolved from' the obligation that its forebears had been under to qualify themselves to defend their country if war did break out, however efficient the arrangements for preventing war might seem to be.

Providing Against Risks

"We have never been a military nation. Our Empire has not been built up by llie efforts of military forces; but has grown. Yet, as responsibilities increased risks increased, and with the risks tliere increased also a realisation on the part of those who enjoyed the benefits of Empire that they had a duty i/i providing against those risks. I have heard it said at Home that ' each generation should provide its own death duties,' or, in other words, should go on the principle, ' eat, drink, and be merry,' without giving any thought to those who came after. If our forebears had been imbued witli that principle, none of us would be here to-night in these circumstances. We would not be able to look back to the wonderful history which is our birthright, ( and which will be the birthright of our children. That is why at such times as the present, after a great upheaval, it is particularly difficult for a democratic nation to keep going any kind of military system on a voluntary basis.

Efficiency of Forces.

" I have made it my business during my stay in Australia to see as much as I possibly can of the training of the different branches of the forces. I do not post* as an expert, but anyone who has had much to do with the forces, as I have had, must be in a position to form a general impression of the spirit pervading the services. When I first came here — I can say it without any breach of confidence—l was told that I would find a reaction against any idea of discipline; and that I should be wise not to expect too much from the citizen forces. I found nothing of the sort. Moreover, 1 have seen a marked improvement in the forces on every occasion on which I liavo visited a battalion. High military authorities have concurred with me in this.

The Duty of All Men.

" I want you to remember what I liave said —that it is not easy in a young and democratic community, engaged in developing its resources, to persuade joung men that war is not a thing of the past; that mankind does not change; and that, even while we are taking steps to make war unlikely, nobody but a fool refrains from insuring valuable property. In this case, you must think of the property in terms of men and women—your mothers, sisters, wives and children. And the duty of protecting them is one which no man can delegate to another without losing his sclf-respect."