NOT PREPARED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23884, 11 August 1939, Page 7

NOT PREPARED

DOMINION’S DEFENCE INVASION QUESTION INADEQUACY OF FORCES (Special to Daily Times) AUCKLAND, Aug. 10. Those who are acquainted with the parlous condition of the defences of Auckland assert there is tragedy in the statement of the Minister of Defence (Mr F. Jones), that "at the end of 1940 New Zealand would be complete as far as defence was concerned." They contend that on the present plans, the Dominion will never have a trained fighting force. It is conceivable that in time we may have the equipment and all other things necessary, excep* soldiers. Defence this year is to cost £5,414.000. against £2,468,000 last year Such expenditure can have only one justification, fear by the Government, which has repeatedly declared it has access to all the secret reports of the intelligence services, that an attempt may be made to raid or invade New Zealand. If there is nothing to fear, nothing to worry about, the spending of nearly £8.000,000 in two years and after 1940 an annua] cost of about £3,000.000 for home defence are unwarranted. If the potential menace is such as to call for defence works, it is contended that Auckland’s interests, as the most likelv centre of attack, demand that the preparations be adequate. Protection from the Navy It is on the grounds of their inadequacy that the existing plans for safeguarding Auckland are challenged What is true of Auckland is true also of the remainder of the Dominion, although there may be differences in detail in the southern centres. Specifically, it is urged that every man and woman in the city and province should know that the naval forces in these waters, excellent though they are in their class and well officered and manned, cannot match the superior gun power and higher speeds of the ships at the disposal of a possible opponent. The world situation is such that Great Britain cannot spare powerful vessels for Pacific waters, and without them no assurance can be given that these coasts will be free from attack. Hopes for protection by the Territorial Air Force would be quickly dashed if the force were called on to fight within the r:ar future. The Baffin and Airspeed Oxford machines may prove a useful purchase, but only when the officers and ground and air crews have been trained. As a force they have not yet been trained to out of sight of land, to make long distance reconnaissances in search of raiders, to transmit their reports by radio, nor have they had any worthwhile experience in bombing. There has been no suggestion that training is to be intensified. Inexperienced Territorials New as they are. the fixed defences at the ports are already outmoded. Great satisfaction i being expressed that the recruiting campaign has produced more than the required 16,000 territorials for the land forces. These are more than are needed for the fixed defences. The remainder field forces which A/ill be moved to any threatened point. About 75 per cent, of the territorials are under 20 years of age. and well over half of them have received only six days’ elementary recruit training. The Main Body had eight months, and most reinforcement drafts _ about four months, intensive training before they were sent into action. Three Months Necessary There are no plans for giving any period of continuous training to the voung territorials. These are only « few of the matters which were discussed in the city, when it was urged that all the equipment in the world would be useless without men t"ained to use it, and that, in this vital aspect of training New Zeal* d was not playing fairly with its soldiers. Men who know peace and war soldiering contended that at least three months continuous training was necessary before a territorial force could be considered ready to fight.