NATIONAL DEFENCE LEAGUE

Otago Witness, Issue 3448, 13 April 1920, Page 42

NATIONAL DEFENCE LEAGUE

POLICY STATED BY GENERAL RUSSELL. (Fbom Oub Own Cokkespondekt.) WELLINGTON, April 8. A policy statement was issued to-day by Major-general Sir A. H. Russell, president of the recently-formed National Defence League of New Zealand:— "I desire," he said, "to emphasise several important factors for the' consideration of the people of this country. Th© fact of the matter is that the world to-day is tired of war and its abominations, tired of everything it brought in its train, and all that it meant, and not unnaturally a feeling of lassitude has crept over people, and made them inclined to put the whole subject out of their minds, and, relax into an attitude, not exactly of indifference, but of dislike for the whole thing. People, in consequence, have been asking whether there is any need again to take up national defence. It was in order to emphasise that need that the National Defence League was formed at a largely-attended meeting held in Wellington some days ago. Plenty of people have been taking as a motto the dictum—of the President of the United States, I think—4hat the late war wa s a war to end" war.' There has been no greater fallacy. Not only do such people say, ; 'turn your swords into ploughshares'; they 1 urge us to turn our backs on the whole question of national defence. There are plenty of these false prophets abroad today. They speak smooth things, but we must not listen to them. There can bo no question of a war to end war. War cannot be driven out by war, any more than an efficient police force' can do away with' crime. The aboltion of war demands the removal of causes which lie deeply imbedded in human nature. When the individual and the nation have been educated to a full realisation of their duties and ! responsibilities, there will be no need for ' police, or defence leagues, or compulsory military servioej but that day is_ not yet. I There is, therefore, need for a league of | this kind to wake people up to the lm- ! portance of being prepared to defend their j ideals and their property, as well as to be ! able to do their duty, not only to this i country, but to the Empire and to the race 1 to which we belong. j "The National Defence League is mjno sense party political. It has nothing ito do with party politics whatever. We ' are a league formed, so far as defence is ; concerned, to help the .Government, ! whatever Government happens to be in I newer, to do its duty, because Governments, like the rest of us/can only go as far as circumstances and public opinion will allow the n. It is the mission of the league to eduoate the electorate on the need for an efficient defence organisation, and when it has done that citizens may be sure that file Government will do its duty. What is the position now? I understand that no less than 10 members of the House of Representatives are pledged to go back to the voluntary system. Many ol the members of the league hive worked under that system and know that it was abso- * lutely impossible. They know that it was no insurance at all; the money that was spent upon it, I cannot say was entirely wasted, but it Was very nearly so. lne people of New Zealand can no more expect to have an efficient defence force under the voluntary system than to have good roads if they are to be left to pay their rates or not as they like. Under the voluntary system those in charge cannot know what they have got. The responsibility for whatever system of defence we possess rests with the electors; it rests with everyone, and what the league proposes to do is to educate the country by means of propaganda—to stir up its friends and to convert its opponents To those ol the latter who are socialistically minded, 1 submit that universal obligation in the matter of defence fc the one concrete "example of Socialism which, has stood the text of experience and practice. I believe that if the. position is put forward clearly and in a reasoned fashion without rhetoric or froth, the people will adopt the right course. What 0. Government wants is the Soned support of theßectors not *gr unreasoned support, which is as bad tor Governments as for individuals

PRICE OF INEFFICIENCY. "There is one factor which the people of this country require to specially tear In mind in relation to defence and that 8 Sat any money allocated for defence purposes tc-day is worth far less than it would have been in 1913, and if the dominion forces are starved it Will .mean that they will be ill-trained and ilbequipped. That means inefficiency, and inefficiency in war means the unnecessary loss of Me. When I *poak of not starving the defence forces, the people of this dominion must not become imbued with the Wea that the leajrue advocates extravagance. What tne league wants is sound defence,, run as economically as possible, on the least money that can be put down; but it does not want to 'spoil the ship for a ha north of tar. The actual plan of defence, however, does not come within the province of the league. That is a matter for the experts. First the Government should have a policy, and the defence scheme should be framed to suit that policy. It would be idle for the league composed of civilians, to say what are the proper proposals in detail; but there are ce.rtam broad principles which it will uphold. If any radical ohanges are proposed—and certain members are. pledged to revert to the voluntary system—it is the duty of the leayue to scrutinise > such proposals carefully, and act according to its conclusions. " As to the pohoy of the league to maintain a White New Zealand,' I would point out that the storm centre of the world a few vears ago was in the North Sea. Today it has shifted. It is moving eastward. So far as New Zealand is concerned it is nearer home. We in_ New Zealand, and our cousins in Australia, are actually the outposts of Western civilisation —of the white race. Outposts are very honourable positions, but those who are on outpost work must'loolc out for surprises and hard knocks, and act accordingly. Wo are at the point where East meets West, both of them probably in their highest state of development. It is true that the East meets the West in the Eastern Mediterranean littoral; but there, thero is a pertain fusion. Here there is no fusion. ' A White New Zealand' means no fusion. That to the working man of New tfealand- is of greater importance than to almost anyone else; for fusion means a lowering of the standards of life which havo been built up in this country. It

means the clashing of the ideals of the East with the ideals of the West. Of the two, ours may go under, unless we keep our shores inviolate. "One of the bogies raised by opponents to the introduction of sound defensive trainin<r in the past was that an attempt was bemg made to introduce militarism. So far as the members of the league are concerned, they loathe and despise anything that breathes of that spirit, and they will have nothing to do with it. Another objection has been that compulsory training is contrary to democracy, and has a tendency to produce a gulf between officers and men. Any other than a democratic defence force in New Zealand is unthinkable, but a special olause to ensure this is included in the objects of the league. This clause reads: ' The acceptance of the principle that in future no one, except in the case of the public interest, can become a commissioned officer of tho New Zealand Citizen Defence Force unless he has served three years in the ranks.' I do not say that a perfect democratic army cannot be obtained without that clause, but with it, the accomplishment of the ideal should be perfectly safe."