DEFENCE DEMAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22421, 18 May 1936, Page 12

DEFENCE DEMAND

AN IMPERIAL PLAN CO-ORDINATION OF ARMS 1 TERRITORIAL OBLIGATION FORCES IN THE AIR No. 111. With the development of air armament there has arisen keen controversy in Britain and elsewhere over the place of the battleship in defence, though there to be no doubt on the point that in a war between two powers equipped with modern weapons the man with tho bayonet and tho hand-grenade will have to finish the task no matter what the extent of mechanisation. Because the whole Empire is illprepared for any grave emergency and because, perhaps, of the wish to take short-cuts to security by the machine and professional soldier route, there may bo a disposition in this and othei Dominions to rely lor safety against the raider or even the invader upon aircraft, anti-aircraft guns, fort guns and, as the Morning Post might say, a few other mechanical devices. We are bound to make the best possible preparation against raiders, though it is necessary to remember that no enemy is likely to send raiding cruisers to these waters without aircraft which they consider better than ours even if our fort guns may be capable of keeping them out of range of the vulnerable parts of our ports. No Local Policy But it would be a very unwise policy indeed to make defensive preparations •with the sole view of protecting those shores on the spot. Tho decisive point in any war in which tho Empire may be engaged will be elsewhere and the training done .here, whether in the air, on the sea, or on the land, should be to tho end of providing men for use at any place where, in the opinion of an Imperial War Council, they will bo most valuable. If ever we have to fight, on our own soil it will be on our last line of defence. Our first line may lie many thousands of miles away, as it did in the Great War. Our best defence will .be to prevent an enemy coming here. Tho ships of the New Zealand squadron will automatically form part of the British Fleet in time of Avar. Local direction would aid the enemy. So also must the air and land forces of New Zealand become part of the Imperial defences. ■ In a pamphlet recently issued by the Imperial Policy Group of Britain the following; appears under the heading "Adequate Imperial and National Defence": — . Co-ordinß.ted Plan "Our naval strength must be sufficient to protect our own shores, our Dominions, Colonies and mandated territories, as well as our 85,000 miles of trade routes. In order to provide such defence, we must at once bring our cruiser and destroyer strength up to the seventy ships which are the agreed minimum necessary for convoy work. "Our air power must be second to none. ... Our land forces at present are totally inadequate. They should at least include an adequate expeditionary force* ready for instant service and with the most modern equipment. The Government .should give far more encouragement to the Territorial and cither branches of the auxiliary forces. "We strongly urge close and wellorganised co-operation between the Mother Country, the Dominions and the Colonies, with a view to strengthening defences on land, sea and air. We believe that the eventual goal must be a co-ordination between the three services in all Imperial countries, and that ftp immediate plan for such co-ordination should be introduced." This statement expresses a widelyheld view, in this Dominion. Co-ordina-

tion of all arms in. all parts of the Empire is an urgent duty. There seems ' to be a tendency on the part of one Dominion, or another to move by fits and starts, mainly in the field of mechanical armament. The result may be toward greater strength, though unless there are adequate oil reserves and the means of securing supplies, these weapons would be of no more value than the Singapore base without ships, guns, mines and aircraft. What of New Zealand's port and anti-aircraft batteries if there Were an inadequacy of shells! What,of our aircraft if they did not possess the weapons for which they were designed! To proceed by individual inclination there may be costly inefficiency. /Tie Land Forces \ ; i There is, however, one obligation on the part of New Zealand which does not require tho*comhined Wisdom of l art Imperial Defence Conference to reveal it, and that is to bring back the territorial force to a satisfactory footing. ' Its effective strength is extremely low. A recruiting' campaign supported by greater inducements should be tried. There should. - be provided the means to • enable offitt * to take special courses. The aff probably requires more specialist ' As to reerui -jig, why not follow the principle of new times and new methods? There are thousands of youths in the Dominion whose hobby is the motor-cycle'.' Why not endeavour to enlist this enthusiasm, as a wartime officer remarked the other day? Why not try to establish motor-cyclist units or attach motor-cyclist sections to the mounted rifles and any other regiments , which' can accommodate thorn ,J Has ths enthusiasm for wireless been exploited by'the signals branch? Has the idea of the military tournament in large centre? of population not got a recruiting value? The attitude pf the general public toward military training has given no encouragement either to trainee or to the Defence Department, and the enterprise to Which it is commended may be doomed to failure if this indifference persists. So deep is this indifference that the taxpayer is not even interested in whether he is i getting value for his money. He certainly is not, (Concluded.) j