KITCHENER AND CAUTION

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7026, 14 January 1910, Page 4

KITCHENER AND CAUTION

The majority of people will derive distinct pleasuro from the insistence Lord Kitchener, in addressing public men in Australia, has placed upon the necessity of keeping to solid earth in regard to defence and not allowing exuberance to inflate. the estimate of values. He has very plainly told Australia ; not to bo extravagant, to be certain that expenditure is justified, to bewaro of looking for "immediate results from high ideals." Lord Kitchener's speeches are simple and direct —the plain talks of <a practical man upon a subject he knows something about. Being this,- they may bo expected to exercise a not inconsiderable infiuenco upon the popular mind and public policy. Their bluntness and simplicity will make them remembered when the high-falutiu of a score of ostatio oraturs shall be forgotten. It is good to have these warnings against prodigality and temporary enthusiasms, for in no department of collective enterprise can there be so much waste and parasitic indulgence as in connection with defence. Unless unoeasing vigilanoe is maintained by the public a defence system is merely another name for a zareeba of expensive rod tape. The sole test of a defence force is efficiency, and people nowadays do not require to be told that a small, efficient army is tenfold more desirable than a laTge, inefficient one. This effectiveness oan only be obtained through a system such as Lord Kitchener outlined should be the aim oi Australia to secure. His utterances have been pitched entirely in the minor key. We hear no wild recommendations from him to import a contingent of Rrofeasors of Military Sei-

ence who sliall be installed at the university colleges with, instructions to train officers—and would do so by lecturing upon Hannibal's passage of the Alps and Caesar's landing in Gaul. Instead we hear him urging the desirability of having " a primary military educational system for the training of officers"-—a proposal which at once conforms with common-sense and tho obvious requirements of the day. It is safe to say that had Lord Kitchener been a maai of lesser mould, and had signalised his arrival in tho colonies by repeating the exaggerations and "froth" out own embarrassing zealots make us endure, the public revolt would have been immediate and decisive. The people.in these countries have shown a most encouraging inclination to move on in relation to the requirements of defence, and have already taken a long step forward. It would be a bitter disappointment if the result should be a retreat caused by the profuse exhortations of those •who claim to lead the way. Tho need for prudent administration and a discreet regard for the susceptibility of a slowly-forming public sentiment are the most pressing requirement of the hour. Tho Field-Marshal has shown by his speeches that he reoognises this very clearly, and we really do hope (the caution and sanity ho urges will be taken to heart by the friends of reform and progress in New Zealand.