The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1939 New Zealand Prepares

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21361, 2 June 1939, Page 8

The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1939 New Zealand Prepares

It is well that the Prime Minister should have brought the country further into his confidence by issuing another statement detailing the steps already taken by the Government to assure the protection of the Dominion in the event of war. Since defence is a question of intimate concern to every citizen, Mr Savage is right in assuming that there is general anxiety to know what is being done. It is a self-evident and slightly unpleasant truth that New Zealand, if war came, would not only have to look after itself, but would also have to play some part in a co-ordinated scheme of Pacific defence. It is probable that this point has been impressed upon the Government rather more emphatically within the past year than ever before, but it would not be reasonable to suggest that such pressure accounts solely for the present acceleration in defence plans. The Government at all times has been anxious to put the Domiuiou in a position enabling it to resist attack, and in this task, now that menaces are certainly more specific than they were two or three years ago, it is entitled to expect the co-operation of all sections of the community. There can be no two minds about defeuce; it is above party, and national security will be the fruit of nothing but preparation in which all participate.

That the recent defence efforts of the Government have been much more thorough than many critics imagined, is shown by the Prime Minister’s declaration that: “should the worst happen, the machinery of government could now turn from a peace basis to a war basis without unnecessary confusion, and without the necessity, in a time of emergency, of pausing to think out what immediate steps should be taken.” It is interesting to learn from Mr Savage that an Emergency Precautions Committee, under the control of the Department of Internal Affairs, is, among other things, seeking the collaboration of local authorities in protecting the civil population against disorganisation in a time of emergency. There is not likely to be any hesitation in answering the Prime Minister’s plea for the collaboration desired. If this latest statement does nothing else, it will enable the people of New Zealand to understand the extraordinarily detailed labour that is necessary to prepare the country for trials which all hope will never come, but as conditions are in the world to-day even the outposts of civilisation cannot afford to take a gambler’s chance on security. That blessing is to be won only by effort.