The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1909. IF THE BRITISH NAVY FAILED?

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2629, 11 October 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1909. IF THE BRITISH NAVY FAILED?

How many people ever give a thought to what would occur in Now Zealand in the event of anything going wrong with the British Navy? Sir Joseph Ward seems to have been impressed somewhat in this direction since lie took part in the Imperial Defence Conference and speaking to an audience in Wellington the other day he is reported as follows: —

Did the farmers, the business people, the working class, the wealthy people —the people of all classes —realise what it would mean to New Zealand as to other portions of the Empire if, through lagging behind in the matter of keeping the' navy abreast of the t.mes, a portion of it in a test went down. (A voice: We must never allow it.) It would mean destruction and a set back for many years' such as no one could foresee. ~ (Hear, hear.) There had lately been a good deal of talk about unemployment, but if the British navy failed, instead of a handful of men being unhappily unable to secure work in New Zealand when times were not bright, it would be found that 100,000 would be workless in this country. Those who had been able to give employment in the past would be unable t-o continue to do so, for no money would be coming into the country, as the shipping routes over which the produce of the Dominion was earned would be cut off. Such a calamity as that to which lie had referred would mean that New Zealand alone would be set back at least fifty years. (Hear, hear.) Apart from that, it was a glorious thing to look back on the traditions of the Empire, and feel that it was a great thing to be attached to such a great Empire, and to form one of fhe nations under its flag. (Applause.) Sir Joseph in this solemn warning by no means overstated the facts. As a matter of fact lie stopped short in his story for the calamity he described would be evident merely as the result of England’s protection being temporarily taken from our commerce. The next stage -would almost inevitably be an invasion of this country and in such an event untold horrors would follow foreign occupation. Do we want our women to be treated as were the wives and mothers of the Beers in South Africa ? Yet the British treatment of their foe —horrible and cruel though it was—was humane and mild compared with the methods usually employed by conquerors invading a country. No wonder the Premier did not pursue the subject to iis logical conclusion, for it is mainly due to culpable neglect on the part of bis Government that New Zealand stands to-day without any adequate means of defence against foreign invasion, save that provided by the Motherland. If the British navy failed us and we had a system of compulsory universal training in operation, we would still be able to make a stubborn resistance and, even if compelled to yield ultimately, we would be able to exact some sort of reasonable terms from our victors. But to-day a moderate force of well armed soldiers would have the inhabitants of this Dominion entirely at their mercy and could <o,npel submission on their own terms. The fate of New Zealand as a dependency of Germany or Japan is something that no free born Britisher cares to contemplate, yet it is an unpleasant situation that must be faced as possible and guarded against with all diligence if we value the liberty of ourselves, our wives and children, to say nothing of the grand traditions bequeathed to us by the centuries. If Sir Joseph Ward has a particle of statesmanship and patriotism in his composition he must realise that our present volunteer system never will and never can cope with the situation, and he must in consequence submit for parliamentary approval a scheme that will give us some chance of retaining our independence "if the British Navy fails.”