AUSTRALIA’S DEFENCE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18079, 4 May 1933, Page 9

AUSTRALIA’S DEFENCE

GEN. HOBBS’ WARNING LESSON or 1914 PERTH, April 20. “We are faced to-day with .a peril greater than before Gallipoli,” said Lieutenant-General Sir Talbot Hobbs, addressing the Legacy Club to-day. “But we are still drifting about in a fool’s paradise. The time has come wheu we must ask ourselves, are we prepared? If the British Empire had been prepared for war in 1914 there would have been no war. Unprepared, Australia will yet have to meet the difficulties and make the sacrifices facing any nation that refuses to accept the facts.” Sir Talbot Hobbs said that a few months’ training was insufficient to make a soldier, but even were that possible, the training of staffs and senior officers was a matter of many years of hard work and study. In 1914 there was only a sprinkling of trained professional men, and because men who were called upon suddenly to act in responsible military position had to learn their jobs by bitter experience, troops suffered more than they would have suffered had their leaders been trained in peace in the responsible roles they were to occupy in war.

In 1914, ■Sir Talbot Hobbs added, Britain was not prepared for war, but she had a wonderful navy on which Australia could rely for some protection. To-day, when allowance was made for defence of Britain’s trade routes, did it leave sufficient strength to protect Australia? “Our White Australia policy,” he continued, “will bring us sooner or later into conflict with other nations. Suppose that a certain 'Power desired admittance for its people into Australia as Europeans are admitted. If we were to deny them it would be a possible cause for war, and if Australia went to war how long would she be able to carry on? It would be three months before we could get help from Britain, even if she was prepared to tight oil behalf of our ’White Australia policy. Is Australia prepared to hold out for three months against a country with a first-class army, navy, and air force, which could very easily land one hundred thousand men? The time l will come when we will be called on to defend our country. It is the responsiblity of the people to take an interest in this subject, and, if necessary, force politicians to do what is right.”