The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1909. A DEFENCE PETITION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2643, 27 October 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1909. A DEFENCE PETITION.

There are at the present time several copies of a petition in Gisborne awaiting signature for presentation to Parliament; and the subject is of such import that we have pleasure in directing special attention to it. The petition is the copy of one that is already being circulated, in other parts of the Dominion , and. it calls, upon the Government to introduce into Parliament a Bill providing a universal compulsory training system for the proper defence.of the country. Everyone who thinks New Zealand is worth defending should sign that petition, for it favors the only method which will enable them to give effect to their views. The volunteer system has been shown to be quite inadequate as a means of natioiud, defence, and in this matter, our own .experience is that of practically all the countries of the world. That great soldier, Lord Roberts, is constantly pleading with his countrymen in “Bonnie "England” to adopt universal training lest an unexpected invasion should bring to the dust in abject liumiliation the Grand Mother* of the proudest and most powerful Empire the world has known. The cablegrams of Monday told us that Germany had completed three Dreadnoughts .in sixty days. These are but the first instalment of a gigantic fleet of 40 Dreadnoughts which are being built with the object of making war against England. The statement may seem over 7 assertive, yet it is true. Germany means 1 to use that gigantic fleet for. war; she means to uso it to fight England. In the preamble to the German Navy Bill of 1900 there were two significant statements: 1. —That the object was to give Germany “a fleet of such strength that even for the mightiest naval power a war with her would involve such risks, as to endanger its own supremacy.” ? 2. —That the whole of the German Navy could be concentrated at home, while the fleet of the 'mightiest naval power” could not be concentrated against Germany. The meaning of those two statements is quite clear. Germany was to build a fleet against England, and was to trust to that very system of dividing our force against which Lord Charles Beresford protested. Everything that Germany has done since the introduction of that Navy Bill of 1900 goes to enforce the lesson that Germany means to fight for the supremacy of the seas, and means to fight the British first. The man who doubts this must be politically blind. . Now, the strange political situation between England and Germany gives the Germans a very great strategic advantage. For ostensibly Britain is‘at peace with Germany, and shall remain at peace until it suits Germany to make war. Whilo Germany is straining every nerve in her preparations to attack, Britain remains solely on the defensive. And it is tacitly conceded in all Home and foreign military circles that when Germany decides upon war she will make an attack as sudden and unexpected as possible, and will strike before war is declared. This strange political situation leaves Germany in the advantageous position of being able to'prepare at her leisure, and to strike at ,her convenience.’. If she wins where will Now Zealand be? With our present system of defence we should not bo able to make a week’s stand against an armed force, but with a community trained to <lrill and use the .rifle as the patriotic Swiss are we should be ablo to make a very, good fight for the right to still possess

New Zealand and live under the conditions of 'perfect freedom that have so long been the inherent right of the Britisher.- The present position is one of the utmost gravity. It is foolish to rely absolutely and ( always upon the protection of the British Fleet. For the reasons just quoted England must keep always concentrated at Dover a fleet as powerful as the entire naval ■force of Germany. And this fleet must be. thoroughly efficient, always ready, and highly trained to act under one command. Because the German High Sea Fleet is one fleet, under one command, and is always ready for the one especial service for which it has been constructed, armed, trained, and concentrated. Therefore in the last resort we, in a little, far away dependency of comparative insignificance, may be called upon to defend ourselves from the raids of hostile cruisers, and that is why universal compulsory military training is an urgent necessity for New Zealand at the present time. We should like to see many thousands of signatures appended to the petition which is awaiting signatures on the Show Ground to-day.