OUR DEFENCE SYSTEM

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6179, 10 April 1907, Page 11

OUR DEFENCE SYSTEM

Colonel Robin, Chief-of-Staff of the ■■ New Zealand Military Forces, interviewed in Sydney, spoke of the close alliance of interest in defence matters between what he described as “your groat Commonwealth and our little colony. We are in a state of transition in New Zealand just now/' ho said, “and vt> shall not have any Easter camps thl* year, but we want some Common officers to come to us in 1908 in th« same way as you have asked us to do. Following out the strategical position* of the two countries, and the possibilities of the future—not in your fighting time or mine, perhaps, but, say, in tho next quarter of a century—there will be many matters of mutual concern. Tin position will be so much accentuated by the cutting through of the Panama Canal, which will vastly alter the stra* logical importance of the Pacific, and by other events, that the more we interchange ideas, and tho more we assimilate our principles the better we shall be able to stand together." Referring to another aspect of defence* Colonel Robin said:—“Your country ia so much larger than ours—you nave several millions of people, whifo wo have only one—our conditions are quite different, and we have no pavy or naval policy to control. There is no immediate likelihood of New Zealand taking up naval defence on its own account, and with us there is therefore only need for the one Council/'* The case of the Commonwealth is not, therefore (remarks the “Daily Telegraph"), on all fours with New Zealand In that respect, and another material difference which follows in natural sequence is that the Chief of the Staff is the senior military officer in New Zealand, while in Austrolia pre-eminence is given to the Inspec-tor-General. And whereas the Commonwealth policy has dispensed with tho services of Imperial officers as a matter of • principle, the New Zealand Government has retained the Imperial association. “ In the past" Colonel Robin said, “ wo have been dominated by Imperial officers/ but the powers that be thought it well to give the leading positions to colonial officers. At the same time, how- • ever, they decided to have an. officer from England to be the second member of the Council of Defence; he will perform also the duties of QuartermasterGeneral. No appointment has yet been, made, but our Premier, who is now in. / England, will deal with that matter in. consultation with the War Office."