THE COLONIST. Published Every Morning. Wednesday, February 17, 1909. THE DANGER OF INVASION.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12467, 17 February 1909, Page 2

THE COLONIST. Published Every Morning. Wednesday, February 17, 1909. THE DANGER OF INVASION.

Speaking iri the House of Lords tb;wards the end of . the last session, Field Marshal Lord .Roberts ..again, addressed himself to the patriotic task of issuing to his countrymen a, grave and reasoned warning of. 'the; perils they incur in. remaining uiipre-; pared to resist, invasion. - ''The repeated warnings of the veteran soldier are; beginning" id bear fruit at last /'a s • is evidenced bythe eager rrecruit-iiig: latterly of the Territorial ; Army 'arid' the extensive scheme of, operations; with wliich the Admiralty^ will •_ rileet Germany's shipbuilding programme for the coming year.*. On the occasion; referred to, Lord- Roberts recalled the speech made by Mr Balfour in 1905 indicating the conclusions arrived at by the Committee of Imperial Defence -on, -the adequacy of buir.meanß for resisting 'any possiblo* invasion; rif-our-shores. ; :,to ■ th'e-'jdssi-bility of invasion from Franco as^thc: country nearasKto'iis. Mr Ralfour'cleriiSred nis oeiiei uricm even an ine assumption of unfavourable conditions at a given moment "seriouß invasion of these islands is not -a possibility which we need . discuss." Perhaps that; was; Jveri::at^.they.tiirie t6b ; iarge' a conclusion to draw from somewhatj narrow : premises.y ; v^i^^ypls^c(.,; :^he assumptiori that' whatis impossible in the caseyqf vFrancie is a /fortiori; impossible in the case of any" other country, to: establish which many things, would-have to;be takeri: into 1 account, besides the mere of -ocean transit. In any case there have 'been many changes andy: developments sirico Mr Balfour spoke in 1905;-' and in view of these an exhaustive and minute investigation has. beeni'made by Lord Roberts-arid others ; into the position of :tlie .invasion -of the.:cou"ifcry under .actual conditions; ; ; ■ .Tha results 'of ;. that inquiry,. -which : havc ieen horiiriiunicated. to .thei proper mthorities and uid^rgoho a "searching jxaminatiari at their ha'nds,:.are of a and to shake -theyc6nif6rtableyop~'; ;imism. prevalent -in 'the country.! Liord Roberts_ states, as I possibility of 'doubt .that vessels suitible for accommodating 200,000 i men . ire at. all times available in the "riofth-' 3rn ports _pf Germany ; that as ia "remit of the new German "sefvice.law" ;hat number of men can be collected - luring several months in. the year in ;he districtsynearest to, .these.,, gftfits vithout any fuss or mobolisation ar- ; •angements ; that; the railway facilir lies are such as would 'admit of ."that"' lumber of men. being embarked in, a nuch shorter time than had, been .static} in- regarclto Ih ; arice ; tnat'inVteacl if three tons of shipping per man be- ; ng. required one ton.andrajhalfiWb.uld/j:: neet all requirements; and that as i

the result a Gennan force of 150,000 men could be landed on our shores in the same number of ships that Mr Balfour allowed for half that number oi French troops, and far more expeditiously than had been thought possible in their case. It is also clear ' thai general command of the sea. is iiot necessary for "an invader. Temporary command of the route he selects is sufficient, and it is very plausibly .sustained'that that may be secured^ in the face ; of a more powerful navy if it can be misled by deceptive -information or. lured in another direction by a false attack; Lbrd Robert's" also points out tiiat ownership of the railways enables the German "Govern-: ment to carry . out preliminary preparation without attracting attention, arid that on the approach of the .critical moment complete control would be assumed of other than State nilways," of 'the post offico, of the telegraphs, and of the press. A degreo of secrecy and celerity quite unimaginable in Britain is, therefore, attainable in Germany.