DEFENCE NEEDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23691, 24 December 1938, Page 10

DEFENCE NEEDS

It is an unpleasant and fearful prospect which is envisaged by Mr W. Perry, the president of the New Zealand Defence League, when he anticipates that "the British Commonwealth may be fighting for its existence within the next six months." People do not like to be told of such gloomy possibilities. If, however, Mr Perry may be taking a serious view of the international situation, it must still be recognised, as the year closes, that the portents would not allow any but a bold man to predict with confidence that a general peace in Europe will continue in the twelve months that lie ahead. The Continent was saved from a war of the gravest potentialities only a few months ago, and MiNeville Chamberlain, who played a major part in securing peace at that time, has been among the first to recognise that Great Britain requires to be even more fully prepared than she was in September last to meet any threat to her integrity. The New Zealand Defence League does well to instil into the minds of the New Zcaiand people a sense of the danger that lurks in an apathetic attitude towards the necessity for adequate defence precautions which iices

every country to-day. Its advocacy of the adoption of a form of compu'sory military training for young men has not met with any favour on the part of the Government. But few people will deny the validity of the league's argument that there is an urgent need in the Dominion for the greater concentration of youth upon national defence. At the present time the volunteer defence force is much below establishment, notwithstanding the increased attractiveness of the terms of enlistment that are now offered. It is manifestly desirable, as Mr Perry urges, that employers should give those members of the territorial force who are in their employment, and those employees who are eligible for enlistment, every encouragement to take their part in training for defence purposes. The institution of a national register which would ensure that members of both sexes should be ready to render such service, in a period of emergency, as would be suitable to their ability is a part of the league's policy which should not be ignored. Even extreme measures to equip the people with the means of resisting any threat to the security of the Dominion cannot be neglected, if the appeal to a national sense of patriotism obtains no greater response than has been evident in a year of critical occurrences overseas. We live in a troubled age. Goodwill and pacific intentions cannot be opposed to guns. War is not inevitable, but the example of the peoples of the totalitarian States, who are, as Mr Perry declares, making compulsory sacrifices in time of peace which New Zealand might hesitate to make in wartime, is one that requires to be emphasised, not so much as an incentive to emulation, but as indicating the menacing conditions in which our lives are cast.