THE DEFENCE OF TIMARU.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 3275, 26 March 1885, Page 3

THE DEFENCE OF TIMARU.

A crowded and most enthusiastic meeting of persons interested m the defence of Timaru was held last evening m Messrs Maclean and Stewart's rooms (kindly lent for the occasion), Stratballan street. His Worship the Mayor (Mr John Jackson; presided, and at eight o'clock commenced the proceedings by reading the requisition sent him by some of the leading citizens of Timaru, and which he had acceded to, the present meeting being the result. So far as he understood they had met to consider what were the best means of defending tho place, and to show the country at large that the people of Timaru still had an interest m and a love for their adopted country. The probabilities were they would not be called upon to show their fighting powers ; and further that the requests they might make would not be acceded to, but this should not daunt them from making requests. (Hear, hear.) They had been told that four of the principal ports were to be defended, and that all the gold from the others was to be sent to these defended ports ; but, probably, residents here would like to keep their own gold. (Hear, hear, laughter, and a voice, " They have not much to keep.") Another thing was that our town was possessed of properties quite equal m value to any m the larger towns. Still, there was another thing--one far more important than he had yet spoken of — the value of the lives and liberties of those near and dear to us, our wives and families. (Loud applause.) He felt sure that if Government only gave us the means of defending ourselves we should use them right loyally. There were men m the Volunteer corps here that would not turn a deaf ear to any call. (Hear, hear.) Several gentlemen were to address the meeting that evening, men with more experience of warfare — (laughter) — than he had, and the first he would call upon to move a motion was Captain Woollcombe, R.N. (Loud applause). Captain Woollcombe, 8.N., said tho motion placed m his hands was as follows : — " That it is necessary that measures be taken to protect the porfc of Titnani against the attacks of cruisers and privateers of any nation at war with great Britain." It must, he said, be very clear to all that, connected so completely as we are with Great Britain, should any war break out between her and any nation of Europe, or of the world, we should most likely be one of the first objects for the enemy to attack. All hod doubtless heard or read of the speech of His Excellency the Governor where he pointed out that the Australian Colonies were a very important part of Great Britain, and that any nation at war with her would first attempt to do an injury to these colonies, and perhaps by these means cripple England from carrying on war, because the commerce of England depended greatly upon these colonies. Another thing pointed out by His Excellency was that an enemy might attempt to get hold of New Zealand and use her as an outpost from which to conduct au attack on Australia with greater advantage. To, however, come again to the resolution before him, he did not suppose, should such a thing occur as a war with Russia, she would be permitted to send a fleet out here, but he foresaw that from other countries — America, for instance — men of other nations might be able to obtain privateers, and should these be steam vessels of a fast kind they would be able to come down upon us m a very short period (about 23 days), and provided .there was no man-of-war handy demand a certain amount of money. He had heard some say ; and believed Sir Julius Yogel held the opinion— that the world was so civilized that no Foreign Power would think of attacking a place that was undefended, but he (Captain Woolleombe) strongly differed from that view. He was Bure that an enemy would not go to the four port 9 of this colony that were defended, but to those ports that were undefended. (Applause.) And supposing a privateer did como manned by five or six hundred men and armed with heavy guns, why she would send a boat's crew ashore and request us to " shell out " our money — (laughter) ; and if we did not do so then she would destroy the town by firing upon it. It hod been said thoy must send their bullion away, — he was not aware if theßanks had much at present (laughter) — if there was any probability of attack ; but wo must bear m mind that if we sent the bullion away an enemy possessed the means of making us " shell out." All they would have to do would be to shell the place which could easily be done with long range guns. Therefore it was the wish of the people resident here that they should have some means of preventing such a thing being donesa means that so far as those who had gofpe^uito the matter believed could be obtaine<rfor\ comparatively small expenditure. He pointed out that two long range guns mounted m good positions, such aa Patiti Point, or any similar point of importance, would fwotect the place, and if they got good men t*ttwork these guns they then could put a shell into an enemy's cruiser that would soon stop her "amusement." (Laughter and applause.) If they failed to do that, and the vessel walked away with £10,000 from here, then tills ne^rs would soon bo bruited abroad and more vessels would come here also ; they would m fact have a repetition of what occurred during the war between England and France, viz., cruisers entering ports " cutting out " vessels and making all sorts of extravagant demands. It might be said by some " Oh, we have never been attacked, and are not likely to be ;" but he would ask " Did a man leave off insuring his house because it had never caught fire ?" Certainly not ; therefore they should do all m their power to get the place protected from an enemy, and claim from the Government a certain sum to get this done. (Hear, hear.) If Government did this they would then find officers and men here who would bo only too ready to placo their services at the Government's disposal, and give them all the advice m thenpower as to the placing of guns, etc., m the most advantageous position. He might add that sunken torpedoes had been spoken of by some persons, but m his opinion they would be of no uso here. What was wanted was long range guns and well-drilled men. The Volunteer force should be. increased and strengthened so that any enemy landing a party might bo driven back. With these remarkß he begged to move tho motion m his name. (Applause.) I Mr Jas. Bruce seconded the motion, and m doing so said he could add but little to what Captain Woollcombe had said. He (Mr Bruce) was of opinion, however, that our Volunteers should be armed with long range . rifles. Every precaution should be taken to guard our hearths and homes. (Hear, hear.) The Chairman' then invited discussion on the motion. . . Mr W. Butherf urd asked would not men-oir war, m case hostilities broke out, be employed guarding or patrolling between the ports of New Zealand that were undefended? In that case would not Timaru be under the care of such guard? Captain Woollcombe, 8.N., who replied, said it was very possible ports might be blockaded, and then vessels could not be used on such a service as stated. He might add that some time ago, when Russia and Turkey were quarrelling and it was likoly England would interfere, war cruisers were ready to leave America and have a " shio at " us. The motion was then put and carried unanimously. To Mr J. W. White was entrusted the next, motion, which was as follows :— " That a, Committee consisting of Captain Woollcombe, Messrs Moody, J. Jackson, and the mover be appointed to draw up a report showing approximately the value of the property to be protected ; tho present defenceless position -qi the port ; and the probable cost thftt would be.iaourred m placing the port m

a state of defence." Mr White said lie was much pleased to see such a large and representative gathering before him, and ho took it as the most unmistakeable sign that everyone was fully convinced of the importance of the subject they were dealing with that evening. Before speaking upon the motion he might b<j permitted to tell them of the result of an interview lie, with Mr Wm. Moody, Chairman of the Harbor Board had had with the Hon. Sir Julius Yogel on Saturday last. They had asked Sir Julius whether Government would do anything to provide means to defend this port, and from his reply they gathered that Timaru was such an insignificant place that no cruiser or privateer of any nation at war with Great Britain would visit it ; that, if they had any bullion m the place — which Sir Julius seemed to doubt very much,— (laughter) — it could be very easily removed, and, therefore, we did not require anything done for us at all. He (Mr. White) thought the last remark might easily apply to all cities ; to Timaru or any other " insignificant " place as well as the lame places. Bullion as they all knew, perhaps too well, packed • very closely, and that from a small town might be as easily removed as that from a large one, and — to follow Sir Julius's advice — they might play the game of "pass it on." (Laughter.) Auckland, when she is m danger, might pass her bullion on to Wellington and vice versd, and so throughout the colony. But would an enemy etand such things as this; wo\tld they not take any steps to force payment or effect reprisals? Of course they would. They would say, " I cannot stand this you know; this game is too thin altogether; you must find the bullion. (Loud applause and laughter.) We will give you twelve hours to do it, and if it is not hero m that time we will shell the town." Shelling the town meant great lobs to everyone m the community. Perhaps a boat's crew would bo sent ashore, and take those who were known as the " leading citizens " off to the vessel, and when they got them aboard ask them " Now what about that bullion ?" (Laughter.) And if they could not produce it give them a certain time to do so, and then if it was not forthcoming, well, then the "leading citizens" would be strung up. (Laughter). Apart from " bullion " there were many things an enemy would take ; however, he did not suppose he wns — or, perhaps, thoso present — a match for Sir Julius Yogel, but on this question of bullion ho thought him a little weak. (Applause). To come to his resolution, however. He had gone to some trouble (or rather had with pleasure) to find the approximate value of building iv that part of the town that might be damaged m case of "shelling," and learing out all public buildings and places of worship, they ' would ■ be no doubt astonished to hear that the value of these buildings was £500,000. There wns not the slightest doubt if cruisers came out and got no bullion they would shell the town and perhaps do something worse, land and " sack." the town, and possibly attack the defenceless amongst us, our wives and children ; m fact there was no knowing to what lengths disappointed privatoei'smen might go. Again reverting to the resolution, all would agree that we were m an utterly defenceless condition. We had only a few Volunteers hero, and these m opposing a landing party would only be losing their lives fruitlessly % they might just as well, with the means at present at their disposal, stay at home and not fight at all, except for the honor and glory of the thing. He did not think anyone present conld point to a single thing that we had that was of use m defending the port. It was true wo had a big gun which was lying full length somewhoro about, like our volunteers .would be lying-be-fore long — (laughter)— unless they are better armed than at present. He would not tako up more of their time m showing how utterly defenceless Thnaru was. He now came to the third part of his resolution. It had been stated that two guns should be procured — ono to be placed at Patiti Point, and the other at Dashing Books, so that any hostile ; vessel- coming m would bo raked by a cross fire. With two guns it had been said the place could be defended very well j but to his mind we wanted more drilled men; wanted m addition to the present corps one or two companies of rifles. The cost of the guns' he would now speak of. Sir Julius Yogel lately iv Christchurch said the Government had: cabled Home for £100,000 of warlike stores. Sir Julius Yogel had been shown on Saturday that to defend Timaru would take but a twenty-fifth part of that sum, but he had put the matter off stating that no civilised nation would 'now attack a defenceless port. But it was not altogether defence from civilised nations we required, it was to guard also against attacks of vessels of the privateer clasa, Sir Julius had been' answered. To this he replied that for the next fifteen or twenty years to come, we might consider ourselves cafe. From this reply ho (Mr White) took it that wo had never been heard of by anybody, and were not likely to be for tho next twenty years to come ; m fact, his idea was we must only keep quiet and not do or say anything. However, to come to tho question of cost. A 7-inch gun would cost £420, carriage and platform £600, masonry and concrete for bed £150, earthwork for prptection for those working the gun £200, and, say, 300 rounds of ammunition £1000,— expenditure for ono gun £2270, or say cost of the two guns required £4500. They would all agree that this was not ft large sum to ask Government for for the purpose of defending an important and rich district of the colony like Timaru. If it was not rich m bullion it was rich m land and other things ; it was m fact the backbone of Canterbury, and if Lyttelton was to be protected why not the most important centre of South Canterbury ? (Applause.) Mr White then mentioned that all our ammunition was under present regulations stored m Wellington, and if this state of tHiDga -were allowed to exist, all a hostile vessel would have" to do was to blockade Wellington with one vessel while sho sent another round the ports. All no doubt had considered the importance of this defence movement ; it was a matter of most vital importance to every man m the room and to every resident of South Canterbury. In conclusion he said he had very great pleasure indeed m moving the motion mentioned above. (Applause.) Mr J. D. Eett seconded tho motion, and briefly remarked that the question they were discussing was very important, and Government should be urged to get the place dofended with as little delay as .possible. In reply to Mr Entherfurd, Mr White said the seven-inch gun would, he had been informed, penetrate a six-inch armor plated vessed at a range of three miles. The motion was then put and carried unanimously. Mr William Moody then : rose, and said it had fallen to his lot to propose tho third resolution. It was— "That the above roport be forwarded to , the Government, and the Moinbors of tho district be requested to use their utmost and immediate endeavors to carry out the wish of this meeting as embodied m the first resolution." Thoy had heard very fully of ,what it was proposed to do to put the . town m a state of defence from an enemy, and he would, therefore, not touch upon these matters. Ail he wished them to consider was this, they asked for these defences as a right. The whole defences of the colony were to cost £400,000, practically speaking half a million, which amount would fall on the taxpayers 'of the colony, and those present at the. meeting as units had a right to claim protection m pro portion to tho population of the district. (Applause.) The Government, therefore, m dealing with this .matter^ must not ignore such places as Timaru and Oamaru. He held Timaru had a right to be defended m common ■with other ports of New Zealand. (Applause.) Mr Butherfurd seconded the motion. In. reply to a question, of Mr Tennent's, Mr J. W. White said an enemy would not require to capture coasting vessels, as information of the ports of New Zealand was easily obtainable m many, other ways, Mr White particularly mentioning that the report lately issued by Government was no doubt known to most nations. Mr James Bruce agreed with Mr Moody, and said that as a resident of Timaru he claimed defence as a right. Mr Davidson thought guns of longer range should bo procured to dofend the place, but Captain Wbollcombe pointed out that they wore not necessary, as cruisers were not likely to be armed with guns that would throw a' shell fire miles. ,In reply to % question, Captain

Woollcombe said he believed tha Russians ; and every other nation wero m possession of : Admiralty charts. They were easily procurable wore the most reliable charts published and cost but a trifle. He declined to answer the question, Did he think it pos- ; sible to protect the p.s. Titan with bales of | wool so aB to make a torpedo boat of her ? i (Laughter.) Mr Jacob Hill thought it woidd, perhaps, bo advisable to ask Government for four guns : instead of two, but Mr White thought two ; guns would bo quite sufficient ; at any rate < for the present. Mr Moody's resolution was then put and : carried. i Mr Rutherfurd thou movod and Mr Salok seconded — "That the Committee and the • Members of the House of Bepresentatives for i South Canterbury interview Sir Julius on j hia return from the South." — Carried. Votes of thanks ' wero then passed to tho , Chairman for presiding, and to Messrs i Maclenn and Stewart for the uso of the ; rooms, after which the meeting terminated. j