BE PREPARED!

Observer, Volume XL, Issue 13, 29 November 1919, Page 2

BE PREPARED!

And Keep the Barrel Oiled

THAT bright soldier, BrigadierGeneral George Richardson, lias lately expressed his personal views on the future necessities of New Zealand military defence. The most important thing the General said was a truism, "An efficient navy is the best home defence." The logic of this is that the British Navy or a part of it, preventing an enemy from landing in New Zealand, would render a land force for its protection unnecessary. If an onemy Navy defeated us at sea the land forces would be necessarily impotent. Therefore, it is to be deduced that the New Zealand land forces in the future are to be trained for expedition outside the country, as they were trained for expedition in Gallipoli, France, and elsewhere, meeting with remarkable and glorious success, and establishing a wonderful record for troops gauged by any standard —volunteer, conscript, or regular.

There were some curiosities about the training nucleus from which the New Zealand fighting army sprung, the most notable curiosity being that the units .of this training nucleus wished to become part of the Expedition, and did so become in large numbers.

Thus by far the larger number of New Zealand soldiers were trained without help from the most notable instructors who were busy at the Avar, and who incidentally achieved great glory. The obvious desire of General Richardson is to establish a system by which it will be possible to despatch instantly a fully-trained and equipped expedition to any place the British War Office needs it. That is to say, it Avould be necessary to maintain a force that could be immediately "ordered," and not asked to proceed abroad, as the Old Contemptibles were ordered and not asked to go to France. They were professional soldiers, the basis and nucleus of all tho great and glorious armies which were sent to fight for civilisation, and, incidentally, sup-

plied the officers and non.-corns, responsible for the feat of quickly training the little New Zealand army of which we are so proud.

The fact is that New Zealand has become a military nation with some very precious traditions. There would be no difficulty to-morrow in creating a force for an expedition to take the field in a month, and it is probably with the idea of keeping this admirable military spirit in full flower that the noted soldier is working. Military principles do not change in the generations. Only the methods of arriving at the same end—the destruction of the enemy— change. The nation which destroys its enemy is not necessarily the best trained nation, but highly-trained troops are one of the prime essentials* to the military genius who controls them.

The basis of all modern military preparation is that every man in the country is a potential soldier, and every person in the country a potential fighter in some way or other, but the accumulated men of any country are to be dependent for their ability to destroy an enemy on the professional nucleus that trains them. The professional nucleus is the lifeblood of the army, despite all sneers about a "military caste." The necessity for soldiers has not ceased. The necessity for fighting men never will cease. The fanning of the sentiment which is the soul of any army is good, and will not •be difficult to keep alive in New Zealand, whose men have proved that the great military virtues can be instilled in new material in the shortest possible time.