DEFENCE FORCES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23858, 12 July 1939, Page 6

DEFENCE FORCES

SUGGESTION TO GOVERNMENT SERVICES OF BRITISH EXPERT DISCUSSION IN HOUSE (From Our Parliamentary Reporter* WELLINGTON, July 11. A suggestion that the Government should ask the British Government to send out a man to put the defences of the Dominion on a sound basis, as had been done before the war when General Sir Alexander Godley was sent out, was made by Mr J. A. Roy (Opposition, Clutha), when speaking in the Address-in-Reply debate in the House of Representatives to-day. Mr Roy said that he did not pose as an expert, hut he claimed to have had some little experience in the army. A Government member: When was that?

Mr Roy: It was a long time ago. The same member; It was 20 years ago.

Proceeding, Mr Roy repeated an argument used earlier in the debate by Mr T. L. Macdonald (Opposition, Mataura), that there was compulsory education and compulsory unionism, and that when it came to the defence of women and' children then there should be universal military training. It had been stated in the House that one volunteer was as good as 10 pressed meh. He was going to give that a complete denial. There had been no difference previously between the man who was conscripted and the volunteer. Such talk was “all moonshine." Support of All Party Members The present Minister of Defence (Mr F. Jones) was trying to do his best for the defence of New Zealand, Mr Roy said, but he was being handicapped. He had three phases of opinion in his party to deal with —those who would go the whole distance, those who were sitting half-way, and those who were sitting back and who because of pacifist ideas did not want to do anything. “ v

Mr Jones: That is not correct, Mr J. Thorn (Govt., Thames): Who are they?

Mr Roy: I know that the Minister of Defence is in a very difficult position. He is doing his best in the circumstances.

Mr Jones: I have the support of all members. “There are men on the Government side of the House who served during the last war and are pre? pared to serve again, not because they are anxious to go to war, knowing the futility of it, but because they are fully prepared to defend this country’s heritage,” said Mr L. G. Lowry (Govt., Otaki), who followed Mr Roy. The voluntary system of recruiting, he said, was succeeding and everything that could be done for the defence of the country was being done.

Value of Good Highways

Referring to public works, Mr Lowry said that it was necessary to have good highways for the development of the country. ,In the event of an emergency, mechanised units could travel-quickly over the highways from one part of the cpuntry to another. The, expenditure on public works was money well spent, and would be reflected in increased production and general welfare of the country.

POSITION UNSATISFACTORY SUPPORT FOR GOVERNMENT’S EFFORTS STATUS OF TERRITORIALS (Special to DAmv Times) ; rWELLINGTON, July 11. “ I regret that we meet under the shadow of an international situation which is tense and menacing,” stated the Dominion president (Mr W.' W. Mulholland) in his address to the annual conference of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union to-day. “It behoves us to take very serious stock of our position in this Dominion. We find that, our defence preparations, patricularly so far as the training of men is concerned, are in anything but a satisfactory position. We are glad that the Government has taken this position seriously to heart, and is now energetically attempting to remedy the matter, .

“There has been in some quarters a tendency to criticise the Government for the unsatisfactory state of affairs that has existed,” Mr Mulhollond continued. “ This is unfair to the Government, the truth being that until now / the people have been entirely unheedful of the position. In fact, it would not be too much to say that, a majority of our people only recently were actively opposed to military preparation.

“ No small part of the reason for the unpopularity of military training which has existed amongst young men was attributable to the fact that those who undertook military training were frequently treated as though they were doing something dishonourable. This was not the fault of the Government, but of the people. I think we are now all awake to the fact that these young men who give of their time and their energy to prepare, themselves for possible eventualities are to be honoured and upheld in every way. “While we may think that the Government could do better - by adopting ether methods,” Mr Mulholland added, “ that must on no account hinder us from doing our utmost to make the best possible use of the system of training and military preparation which the Government has put in hand.”

OTAGO RECRUITING ' BRISK RATE CONTINUES Recruiting for the territorial forces in the Otago area continues to be very brisk, and the response is better than could have been expected. At the beginning of June *522 men were required to bring the local establishments up to strength, and by the end of that month there was a net increase of 264 in Otago, leaving 358 still to be obtained. So far about 80 have joined up in July, and. the rate shows no sign of slackening.