THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, May 12, 1939. DEFENCE ORGANISATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23806, 12 May 1939, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, May 12, 1939. DEFENCE ORGANISATION

It is a reasonable inference, from comment made by the Prime Minister on the nature of discussions in caucus by members of the Parliamentary Labour Party, that defence provision will be one of the first subjects to be considered by Parliament when it assembles in June. But it seems doubtful whether, while the ne ;d for action to establish the country’s defences on a sound basis becomes more and more pressing, the Government itself has as yet a coherent plan to place before the people’s representatives. The Prime Minister speaks of recognition of the necessity, by members of the party which he leads, for going “ right into the question of defence.” He adds that it is only “ a question of method.” Has it not been that for two or three years past, during which, in the face of increasing world tension, the Government has maintained a masterly inactivity in respect of the organisation of land forces which might be deemed adequate for the Dominion’s purposes? It is inconceivable that the Government is only now seized with the importance of taking steps which, in other countries of the Empire, have been vigorously prosecuted for many months past. Yet that appears to be the position. Mr Savage declares that his immediate aim is to get the general mind of the party caucus on defence problems, after which he will be freer and better able to express the opinion of Labour on the road that ought to be travelled. All this is disconcerting, for it hints not only at failure to grasp the essentials of a problem into which considerations of party politics should not enter, but also at the probability of further delay in the making of dispositions which have long since come to be regarded by other sections of the public as of imperative urgency. Speaking in Auckland a few days ago, General Russell defined the first need of this country, if the risk of invasion is to be minimised at all, as trained manpower—“ just that and nothing else.” The Prime Minister has himself expressed the view that recruiting should be looked upon as a national responsibility, yet his own part in discharging that responsibility has been conspicuously delayed, and is still delayed pending assessment by him of the general opinion of Labour on what is integrally a national question. The Government must know the grave danger that is involved in inaction while the whole world is ridden by the mistrusts and panic fears that make war. It must know, too, that national sentiment in New Zealand. as elsewhere in the British Commonwealth, is overwhelmingly in favour of preparedness to meet any emergency that might arise, and that the people are merely awaiting a lead from the only quarter in

which a lead can properly originate. In principle, as has been tirelessly emphasised by the advocates of preparedness, national defence is a non-party question, and no serious opposition need be expected, from any quarter, to proposals designed to place the Dominion in better shape to resist aggression. The difficulty is that the Government, so far as the land forces of the country are concerned, has never enunciated a clear-cut policy, or one aiming at sufficiency. The original design was for a territorial establishment of 9000 men—a pitifully meagre force, even if it were at full strength and properly trained and equipped, for the task that would confront it in the untoward event of attack. More recently the Prime Minister raised hopes foi something better by hinting at the recruitment of a force of 50,000 men, but his subsequent utterances on that subject have again distressingly clouded the issue. The fact is that no one now knows whether that figure—contained, on Mr Savage’s own admission, in a question addressed to the General Officer Commanding the Military Forces—has any basis at all in reality, or whether it was simply conjured from the air in a moment of rhetorical enthusiasm. The Government has lately had the benefit of a great deal of expert advice on the several problems of defence confronting it. It has in its possession and for its guidance the report of the recently-held Pacific Defence Conference—a document, it is to be expected, of very great value. It will be a matter for despair if it is not swiftly in a position to lay a comprehensive defence programme before the people,—one that envisages the whole problem of enrolment and training, for special as well as for military duties, with particular regard for the isolated position of these shores and the forms of attack that may be apprehended in a time of world upheaval.