Defence Against Outside Aggression

THE Armed Constabulary, which had proved so useful during the Maori Wars, was kept up to police the ‘frontier’ areas for a number of years after peace had been re-established. It incidentally performed a good deal of useful road-making work. During the seventies its strength was about 800. In 1883 it was divided in two—one part assum­ing purely police duties, while the other became the Field Force of about 600, a number that was gradually being reduced.

Although the numbers enrolled tended to fluctuate, there were on the average some 7,000 men in the Volunteers during the seventies, rising to about 10,000 in the later nineties. There was also a permanent Militia force of about 200 officers and men, who performed invaluable service as instructors. There were generally a few Imperial officers in the higher commands.

In 1881 some 950 Volunteers took part with some 650 Armed Constabulary in the operation at Parihaka, which was entirely bloodless. It showed, however, the type of emergency the early volunteers had to be ready to meet.

New Zealand had for so long been preoccupied with the problem of internal security, that the thought of any danger from without was disregarded or set aside with a complacent reference to the power of the British Navy. Though this was undoubtedly our first line of defence, external events stirred public opinion to a more watchful attitude.

In the late sixties some forts had been estab­lished which, like Fort Britomart in Auckland, though primarily intended for internal defence, might serve also for defence against invasion. In 1878 twenty-four guns were ordered for coastal defence. In 1884 Governor Jervois, who was an expert on the subject, advocated a comprehensive scheme for strengthening coastal defences. During the eighties great improvements were carried out, though an unfortunate by-product of this increased expenditure on coastal fortifications and batteries was the unwarrantable starving of the Volunteer forces, which were in any case adversely affected by the slump of the eighties. The small permanent Militia carried out the greater part of the actual work of fortification. By March 1888 about £428,000 had been spent on modern coastal defences mostly at the four main ports, Auckland and Wellington receiving the greater attention.

In 1893 over 1,000 volunteer naval cadets began training in artillery work and also in the use of torpedoes and mines. More modern arms .were purchased for the Volunteers in 1894. But the real weakness was still the inability to train enough men to a high standard of efficiency. In 1892 Colonel Fox thought that there were only 142 efficient gunners in the colony, a figure which .took into account the permanent Militia.

By 1899 there had been a reaction against the development of harbour defences. Though it was felt that these were of value, it was considered that a volunteer force with definite organisation to meet an emergency at any or all of the four centres would be a better protection for the country.