NEW ZEALAND'S PART

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23154, 28 September 1938, Page 14

NEW ZEALAND'S PART

The Prime Minister has spoken for the whole country these last few days when he has supported Mr. Chamberlain's efforts for peace and also when he ranged New Zealand with Britain and the Empire in common defensive measures. As Mr. Savage put it in 1936 shortly after taking office, this country should be able "to play an intelligent part in the welding of a Commonwealth chain that would be powerful in both peace and war." The same view was expressed by the Prime Minister on his return from the Imperial Conference last year and again a few days ago when the shadows of the current crisis began to lengthen. No question arises, therefore, as to where New Zealand stands, but the present anxious situation demands something more than a statement of attitudes. Active measures of preparedness against an emergency should be everywhere in train, as they are in Britain to-day. No reason exists to doubt the Defence Minister's assurance that "at present there is no set of circumstances that would necessitate special precautionary air defence measures in New Zealand," but there is reason to ask whether the Government is prepared to apply such measures instantly, as well as measures for local defence by land and sea. The experts all talk of the lightning war, and the only way to counter such a swift stroke is to be fully ready to parry the stroke. Has local defence .reached that state of readiness? Apart from that, Mr. Savage has pledged New Zealand to "play her part," as we should all*wish to do, "not only with the defence of our own shores and our own people, but also with the defence of the whole British Commonwealth." Britain is working night and day to do her part in the common effort for security and New Zealanders would be happy to know that their Government is, by practical measures, preparing to second the Mother Country to the limit of the Dominion's power.