Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, FRIDAY, DEC, 30, 1938. DOMINION’S DEFENCES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19825, 30 December 1938, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, FRIDAY, DEC, 30, 1938. DOMINION’S DEFENCES

One of the questions to wnich the Government, and the people, will require to give serious attention early in the new year is that of the Dominion’s defences. The Government has come in for a good deal of criticism on this question but the blame does not rest entirely on its shoulders. In this, as in all other important issues, no Government can move in advance of public opinion and it may be doubted whether the public is yet sufficiently educated to the seriousness of the position and the defence needs of the country. Many people, deriving a false sense of security from Now Zealand’s isolation from the centre of the world’s storms, have developed a complex that is epitomised in the phrase “social security,” and fail to realise that their whole social and economic standards may be jeopardised in the absence of national security, which can only be provided by an adequate defence force. Others make the mistake of assuming that defence is a political issue, but far from being the prerogative of any one party it is a responsibility that must be shared equally by all sections of the community. When the community gives evidence of its appreciation of this responsibility, whatever Government is in office will be compelled to respond.

That the position in New Zealand is anything but satisfactory requires

little emphasis. The public should be aware of the exact strength of the defence force, for no secret is made of the facts, and it should have at least some understanding of the requirements in face of the international situation. It must; know that although there has been an unprecedented increase in tension and grave threats of war, comparatively little has been done to strengthen the forces of the Dominion. It knows, also, that Great Britain and the other Dominions are spending enormous sums on armaments and that if Empire defence is viewed as a whole New Zealand is not contributing its fair share to the preparations for it. What it may not perhaps realise is that unless New Zealand has a reasonable force of its own, the safety of its people may be jeopardised, for it has been made abundantly clear that the Dominion cannot look for complete protection from other Empire units. This fact alone —the instinct of self-defence—-should be sufficient to imbue the public with the seriousness of the present position and should lead to a demand that adequate steps should be taken to make the country more secure than it now is.

In the past there has been a tendency for New Zealand to rely on the strength of the British navy, but official statements have gone to show that naval aid would not necessarily be available in the event of British interests elsewhere being threatened. This point was again emphasised only last week by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty when, having declined to disclose the disposition of warships at Singapore, he was asked whether Britain would be able to provide capital ships for the defence of Australia. The reply was that the position had been accurately stated at Canberra by the announcement that Australia was allocating the sum of £20,000,000 for naval defence. This answer can only mean that Australia realises, or has been given to understand, that she must make her own provisions in this direction and not rely on the Mother Country. It must be assumed that New Zealand Is in exactly the same position, since the destinies of the two Dominions are inextricably interwoven; yet New Zealand has done virtually nothing to increase the strength of her naval forces. Up till now she has concentrated largely on an improved air force, but, valuable though these preparations might be, they are dearly insufficient to meet the serious situation that exists.

Most serious of all, however, is the deficiency of man-power in the territorial forces which, despite the many changes in military methods and strategy, are still the real basis of any defence system. The territorial units have a nominal peace-time establishment of only 9000 men, but expert opinion is that this should be doubled or even trebled. As it is, however, it is not even possible to fill the establishment, an intensive recruiting campaign during the past few months having failed to persuade more than a few hundred young men to offer their services. It might have been expected that the crisis of last September would have brought home to New Zealanders—as it did to the people of other countries the need for adequate defence measures, but if the results of the drive for recruits are any criterion the young men of this country either fail to realise the seriousness of the situation or else are too much concerned with their own comfort and convenience to accept their clear responsibility. The first alternative surely is the correct explanation, and this being the case there is an urgent need for the better education of the people of the country to the implications of recent international events. In 1914, the Dominion had approximately 50,000 trained men and youths; to-day the number probably does not exceed 10,000 and unless the deficiency is remedied the consequences, in the event of war, cannot be foretold. The new year must open with a still more determined recruiting campaign and unless this succeeds, the Dominion must be prepared to adopt a system of universal service.