DEFENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2818, 18 March 1908, Page 13

DEFENCE.

THE PRIME MINISTER'S RECENT STATEMENTS. By Line-Ahead. Speaking at Paeroa recently, the Prime j Minister, naving lelenea to the awaken- ' ing of (Jlnna and the activity in German | naval circles, is reported to have &aid : I " As the people would insure their houses, the Government, as a common-sense one, , must insure against any foreign Power coming in and taking ouv personal pioperty. The British Navy was coir iir&t r line of detente, and British pluck, ; courage, and tradition would come in there. If the last defence was swept away the men in the Dominion, even in the \ event of the beating of the British fleet \ in the Mediterranean or in the East, would fight on to their last man to preserve ' their country." If this be a faithful report, I would like to draw attention to the statements — (a) " The British Navy was our first line of defence " and (b) "If the last defence was swept away". . From this and kindred previous state- 1 ments I am forced to the conclusion that ! here in New Zealand, up-to-date as we are supposed to be, we have as President ; of the Council of Defence an advocate of the " Blue Water " policy. Here we j have it plainly stated that our " first " , defence and our " last " is the British ! Navy. Just as a last resource, " the J men in the Dominion .... would ; fight on to their last man to preserve 1 their country." The patriotic audience duly applauded. Here I am. reminded of j a shrewd" remark by Brent, of the Con- j federate Army : " Horace has said that | it is pleasant and becoming to die for one's country, but I maintain that it is better to rejoice in its nobly-won victories than to die in its vain defence. '•' This man was not a politician, but a soldier. The point to be considered is, " Can the navy secure New Zealand from attack?" That the great naval battles j of the future will not be fought in New < Zealand waters we readily admit. The ! naval problem is for the Empire as a ' whole to d«al with, and no one with the interest of the Empiie at heart will grudge an increase in our contribution. The navy, however, is only the first line of defence; and it is possible for this first line of defence to break down. That the navy alone can be relied on as a defence attack and conquest is based on the assumption that our navy is invincible. ; Let us look to history for instances to | prove that there is nothing so unstable as sea-power. Spain was once the proud " Mistress of the Seas." The " Invincible Armada" is a good object-lesson for us. The Dutch then gained the ascendancy, being more than & match for the fleets of Great Britain and France. Frond the Dutch the supremacy passed to the French, and from the French to the British. Coming more directly to our own History, we find that we are not altogether invincible. By the Dutch we were defeated in tbe four days' battle of the Straits of Dover, and by the French at Beachy ! Head. We stared defeat in the face at the drawn battles of Toulon, Ushant, and Fiirsterre. The Dutch held the mouth, of the Thames for a fortnight ; the French had command of the English Channel after Beachv Head, and Great Britain escaped because the French army was not ready to invade. During the war of ' American Independence the French had I command of the Channel three times, | but again no army was ready to follow up their successes. At the famous battles of Vincent and Trafalgar victory was ours mainly because of the tactical inefficiency of our enemies. SURPRISE ATTACKS. Now, the combined fleets of Germany and France are to-day equal to the fleet of Great Britain. An alliance is, possible, though, perhaps, not probable ; from the experience of former wars it is possible that such a combination could win another | battle such as Beacliy Head or Southwold j Bay. It is immaterial whether this battle be in the North Sea, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, or the Pacific. It is only necessary to admit, as we must, its possi- I bility. | We have another phase of the ques- j tion, illustrated by the late Russo- j Japanese war. There we saw that by the j use of submarine mines and torpedo attacks the Japanese materially weakened ! the Russian fleet without even risking a. j pitched battle. "It is just the destruction of a few battleships," as Captain •Mahan remarks, " which gives the tactical victory and everything which results therefrom." Then we have to consider the possibility of surprise. Some good people imagine that war is played by such hard and fast rules that surprise is out of the question nowadays. Let us hear what an authority has to say on the subject of international law and surprise attacks : — *' Let us put aside as childish all talk of international law as any protection. There is no such thine as international law, for the thing so miscalled is simply international custom, and a new custom can be added at any time by any nation powerful enough. To break through so"-calkd international law is no more than for an truW-yiilual to hrmaJi throudx the convea-

tionalities of social intercourse. International law is nothing but a collection of the conventionalities of international intercourse, and how far any nation chooses to conform thereto is mieioly a matter of power and expediency. We ourselves have been the greatest offenders of all in breaking international conventionalities. We have frequently made use of our naval power to attack other nations by surprise." ' In international intercourse nothing more unconventional has ever been done than our surprise and seizure of the D.tnish fleet in 1807. In the words of the Dutch d-cckuation : "The Danish Government saw the English ships of war upon the coast without" even a conjecture that they weic to be employed against Denmark. The island of Zealand was surrounded and captured, the capital threatened, and the Danish territory violated and injured before the Court of London had made uso of a single word to express the hostility of its feelings." Great Britain considered this move expedient ; she had the power to cany it out ; and she did co. And, with the foregoing in our history books, Lord Twerdmouth (the First Lord of the Admiralty) assured Lord Roberts in the House of Lords that no nation would be so impolite as to attack the British Empire without due warning ! We surprised Holland in 1654, 1664, and 1672; Spain in 1718 and 1739; France in 1744 and 1755 ; and Denmark in 1807. Assuredly we have been the greatest exnonents of "surprise" tactics, and for us to prate international law in the matter of a formal declaration of war signifies one of two failing, hypocrisy or igr.cra.nce. A SECOND LINE OIF DEFENCE. Sufficient has been written to show that the British Navy (or any other) is not invincible — that its squadrons may be eluded or taken by surprise. Such being the case, is it wise or politic for New Zealand to depend solely on this force for protection? No thinking man will answer the question in the affirmative. Yet there are still people both here and at Home who, having read only of the victories and nothing of the defeats of our navy, contend that money spent on land defence is thrown away. This is generally the opinion of " the man in the street." On the other hand, the Royal Commission on the Defences of the United Kingdom of 1860 and the Royal Commission on the Auxiliary Forces of 1904 found, after due consideration, that " an invasion is possible despite the navy " ; and that " instead of basing our policy on a controversial opinion, we should rest it upon a certainty — the certainty of a strong navy and a strong army." This deliberate opinion is of as much vrlue to New Zealand as it is to Great Britain — and here, as in Great Britain, a woefully deficient force is nursed and kept alive. That this is noi the fault of our Volunteers it is perhaps as well to point out. They have freely given time and money and hard work in the country's service. Making the most of their limited opportunities, they have worked on regardless of popular disfavour. They are themselves most alive to their own shortcomings, and ask only for better opportunities than are at present afforded them. Eight years ago the late Lord Salisbury said: "The defence of the country is not the business of the War Office, or the Government, but the business of the people themselves" ; and until the people of New Zealand realise this and cease carping at the men who aie doing their best so long will the Voluntoii- Force languish. One of the most attractive aspects of the universal military training proposal is that, as the youth of every family will have to undergo tsome military training, the heads of families will naturally take some- interest in the defence of the country As long as public sympathy with Volunteering remains passive, so will the unthinking youth of this land look askance at voluntary soldiering. The policy of the Defenr-e Co'incil was set out in the 1007 report as fellows :—: — " Taking all circumstances into consideration, it was decided lhat the policy of defence should, for the present, continue purely voluntary. . . . Should the Volunteer Force not be maintained or brought up to an efficient state, Volunteering has had its last chance. If the general public is in earnest as to defence, it must itself assist and insure that under the Volunteer system sufficient enlistment is made, and that once men are enlisted they attend regularly. The alternative is a system of universal or compulsory training, whereby th 2 burden of service in the Defence Forces will be more evenly distributed." Volunteering is not dead in New Zealand yet. But there is something radically wrong. Recruits of a good stamp are • continually coming forward ; they serve a short time, and then, disheartened with an inactive sympathy on the one hand and with open contempt on the other, they drift out of the ranks and stand with the scoffers on the footpaths. From time to time we. hear of persecution of men by officers. Most of this lalk is talk — and nothing more. People imagine that the old English army method of " swearing and bullying ' is the fashion in our Defence Force to-day. With a little thought it will be perceived that this Bystem could not obtain in a Volunteer Force anywhere, much less with independent young New Zealanders. The easiest and quickest way to deplenish the ranks of a company is to indulge in a " little blackguarding. ' The Volunteer officers are for the most part intelligent students of the defence of the country, and the permanent staffs are only too happy to go out of their way to assist both officers and men. True, we hear sometimes of hardships inflicted on Volunteers by district staffs; but a little thought will again help us out of the difficulty. All regulations issued must be carried out to the letter. That this must be &o is apparent. The Volunteer is human, and sometimes— perhaps often — does not quite understand the intention of some order or regulation. Sins of omission aie sharply dealt with according to a code known to all in the force. Ibis is absolutely necessary., be-

cause, if these orders arr not cpriifd onl to the full in per.-c, what auaiiintie is forthcoming that Hrv \sili bo in war". TO THE OEXERAL PUBLIC. If the Vohxntcoi- system it. to cont")up in New Zeahud it nn.st b" e'.icoui.-^-d l>v an intelligent, popular sympathy. "1 h s may be accomplished in w var'oty oi -w r. s. Employers oi labour might. ' i\ v o'.lk-i things being equal, oi coaise. glw {-.(.- ference of employment to Yukaveen:; those who are endowed with a fan share of this world's goods might h"'p along struggling battalions imcl toips with shooting, signalling, and other prizes: .irul fiose who don'i feel iuc.med to do anything active in the matter can at least show their sympathy bj combating the senseless talk that flows- i'vom the lips of those who will not do anything tin mselves, and whose sole .nission in life seems to consist of criticising those who are not afraid to spend their leisure time in fitting themselves for the day w hea we New Zealanders will surely have our backs to the wall. Wo have made our "White New Zealand" bed, and we will have to lie on it. One hundred pounds cash down and the reading of one hundred English words in any English book will not keep the Yellow Man out when he is determined to come in. At the present time he comes in twos and threes and outwits the Customs officials ; let us hope that some day he will not come in thousands and outwit our statesmen who glibly talk of " Imperial Defence"' (which is all very fitting and proper), but Imperial defence, like charity, begins at home. And when each State is self-protective, with the Imperial Navy as our first line of defence, as an Empire we will be able to make some stand when the nations, at present our friends and aliie*, consider it opportune to disclose their ln,iuls. Then, and then only, will the people realise the value of the " soldiering mania" which now they affect to despise.