OUR DEFENCES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13786, 27 December 1906, Page 10

OUR DEFENCES.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—When General Babington resigned his position as Commandant of the Forces in New Zealand he diew attention, in the last paragraph of his report, to the defenceless position of the colony and to the utter inadequacy of the means at disposal even to attempt defence. Since that time things have been allowed to drift along in the same old groove. An attempt was to be made to reconstruct the New Zealand War Office (save the mark!) somewhat on Iho linos adopted, by. the (front would-be military reformers of Pall Mall, by appointBient of a board of officers who had seen some service, and were consequently supposed to know something about, the matters with which they would have to deal. Whether this would have made too much trouble, of had a tendency to upset the firm hold numerous members of the ancient and famous family of "Tite Barnacles" (of whom a very large number arc fixed very firmly on the most, auriferous rocks of New idealand) had upon Ihe Dcfence Department, or whether official patronage, which is the very life-blood of a New Zealand Government in any form, would have been weakened, it is difficult to sav. In any case, the old order yet obtains, and the gorgon has still one head. That 011 c of the gentlemen appointed is an excellent departmental officer there cannot be the slightest doubt. That he is an officer of service cxipevionce cannot l>e olaimed in any sense. His military service as a. subaltern in the old H.E.I.C. dates back now over 40 years. Conditions of service in those days are now as obsolete as a Charles H wig. That he is a gentleman in all that constitutes that title goes without saying; but departmentalism has always been the incubus paralysing all progrossiveness in connection with the British Government and all its oftshools, whether Crown or constitutional colonies. Redtape is in the blood. There cannot be, I should imagine, any two opinions as to whether the officer or officers apnointrd to take supreme command should have been thoroughly trained by practical experience ill all up-to-date requirements as to defence and all organisations for that purpose.

Colonel Robin said on a recent Saturday that we were at " the parting of the. wavs between Volunteering to-dnv and tomorrow/' bub I do not think he shows what the new way is to be. There has never been any Volunteer organisation in this country capable of oft'eciuallv repelling any outside attack. I snv this without derogation of the personal bravery or devotion which every man composing the Volunteer Force would display on any occasion. But I say there are neither num : bers of men nor appliances by which an invading force could be repelled if deter intned to effect a landing-, whether from hope of conquest or simply from a desire for plunder. Plunder would, J fancy, be easy! Follow the lines of our warlike anoestors (on whose grcai deeds we arc too much content to rest), and a Japanese or a Ivaisor coming along would simply \ 0 *,° m/'"' I '' " Hand over or your town ls ~~ Ihere are neither guns nor men sufficient, oven if mobilised in anv centre in fsew Zealand. Suppose the whole population twicefold were embodied as soldiers they could not defend cffoctuallv onehundredth part of our coastline which it would he worth any enemv's while to attack.

riiis by i lie way. Ji i.- ; not in this part 01 f he world our freedom or bondage will , fou f' ll cut. We may feel effects rlurin" the conflict which may lie enough for us! Put on tlio eld beloved and historic ground which we all call Motherland, whether it be Irish, Scotch, Welsh, or JMiglish soil, will ho decided finally ore ninny years, or. if may bo> months, tho position Inn -Anglo-Saxon racc as roprosonted in Great or' Creator Britain will occupy m the world of tho future. eu hear many people say, partic-ularlv at what aro supposed io ho patriotic functions, '• The Km pi re will never fall; wc have always ooine out on top.'' This is the most dangerous kind of security—u security which is shown by history to lead to certain defeat. We lived in Kurope for 50_voars on tlie reputation of Trafalgar and Waterloo, and disgusted all our neighbours by such an amount of arrogance and assumption that all of tlieni would have been rejoiced at our downfall. The war mi the Crimea showed our weakness, and no one who lived during and since those (lays can say that England's voice has carried the same weight in the councils of nations as formerly. A v*?y crea! wiiW

nt.v on great events and their effects on the world's -history says of the Crimean war:--"The less said of it the betterit was a spectacle." The same remark, with even greater force, applies to South Africa.

These preliminary remarks bring nie to what I wish to say in connection with the duties of the people of a country in connection with its defence, either from inside trouble or outsitle attack. From the earliest times the most valuable and greatest privilege of an inhabitant of anv country, whether described as tribally governed, or State or city, was that of bearing arms in its sui>port, ho matter the cause. The riglit to bear arms was then the distinctive mark of a froeman. Under tho old Romans a legionary was required to possess property equalling £40 per annum of our money to procure him the distinctio.'i of serving,tho great republic in the field. When luxury and living 1 on tho reputation of the past took tho place of the actions of that past, how soon the Goths came thundering at tho gates of Rome despite tho geese! Verb, sap.—l am, etc.. Pro Deo et Rego. Dunedin, December 18.