The Evening Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and Echo. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1900. AN AUSTRALASIAN LEGION

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 62, 14 March 1900, Page 4

The Evening Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and Echo.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1900. AN AUSTRALASIAN LEGION

For the causa that lack, assistance, For tho -wrong that needs resistance. For the futnro in tho distance, And the' cood that wo can do.'

Everyone in the colonies at this time is naturally interested to hear what part we may be called on to bear in the new scheme of Imperial defence which the Home Government has under consideration. Mr Charles Wyndham, Under-Secretary for War, in explaining the estimates, made reference to the arrangement, but did not disclose, the precise character of it. His remarks, however, suggest that tlit. scheme, while including the colonial forces as an important factor in the defence of the.Empire, will not require their services continuously. From what he said about the colonies participating in Imperial defence whenever an emergency of importance arose, one < tit hers that under the new .scheme no n permanent burden in the way of furnishing men to the army is to be laid on the colonies just now. It will only be on critical occasions like, the prejsent, when a large army is necessary lin the field, that the colonies will be i required to furnish a fixed contribution of soldiers. If this is indeed the ! intention, it falls short of what we had anticipated and what the Home press has been urging. The expectation has been that the reorganisation of the-army, on a new Imperial-basis, would" require of the colonies a standing additioii'to the Imperial forces. The "Spectator" some time ago sug-

gested that 20,000 Canadian troops, 10,000 Australian, and a foreign legion of 10,000 should be included in the British army and be paid by Great Britain. That journal, having regard to the excellent behaviour of the colonial troops in South Africa, and the willingness oi' the colonials to offer their services, saw no reason why fhe Imperial army should not be recruited from Australia. The "Spectator" is, we are afraid, somewhat in error in that conclusion. It would be wrong to infer from the alacrity with which Australasia has contributed of its population to the war that, in the ordinary sense, these colonies would make a splendid recruiting ground. The. motives which led our boys to volunteer for South Africa are entirely different from those, which actuate the ordinary soldier at ordinary times. In the vast majority of cases, the latter has enlisted because the army offered him the best chance of making a living. Visions of glory, and the attractions of a gay uniform, may have enticed a few thoughtless young fellows to take the shilling, but for every one so induced there must be hundreds whom* poverty, or at least the. severe competition in the ranks of the workers has driven into tho ranks of the fighters. When estimating the value, of Australia as a recruiting ground one must remember the vast difference between the social conditions which obtain there and in the Old Country. The arguments which in times of peace hardly suffice, to keep the Home army up to the normal numerical standard would have next- to no weight in ' this part of the world. There is little occasion to dwell on this point. A glance at the men avlio have gone to the front from New Zealand sufficiently settles the matter. These boys, like the men of Australia and the men of Canada, were fired with a patriotic enthusiasm that revealed to them the campaign in its most alluring aspect, and blinded them to the horrors and privations of war. Does any one suppose that, if a recruiting sergeant had come to New Zealand twelve months ago, and toured the colony offering our youth the same inducements which are offered by him in Great Britain, he would have.got a tenth, nay, a twentieth, of the number of men and lads to enlist that have volunteered within the past lew months? There are doubtless a few of our boys who were "hard up for a job" when they offered their services, but Aye are sure it is quite ;.i mistake to suppose that without the peculiar stimulus of the patriotic nnd warlike spirit, spread abroad throughout the colony, even these unemployed would have adopted the soldier's trade.

The "Spectator," usually most saga cio'tis, has not interpreted quite aright the feelings of the colonies on this occasion iv supposing that there is Here ,a reservoir of good fighting material that can be tapped at any time and under any conditions. At „ crisis like the present the colonies would give their last man to uphold the Empire were it in any way threatened. But under normal circumstances it is .certain ihere would be no little difficulty in inducing 10,000 Australasians to join the British army on the ! same footing as the ..ordinary Home 'recruit.. Indeed, we are inclined t«r 1 think that the colonies would rather resent the. presence of the. recruiting sergeant almost as : much as the people of the Old Country would oppose at ordinary times any form of compulsory service. Them is a close analogy between the feeling here and the feeling at Home in.this; respect. No difficulty is experienced j here, or there in raising companies o_ . volunteers Iw, the war. The young and old men of Great Britain are prepared to throw up remunerative positions in order that they may go to the front. It is perfectly safe to predict that were the emergency greater it. would be met in a spirit 01 national sacrifice equally great. The Duke Of Wellington, when asked what his reserve, would be in certain eventualities, is credited with the reply, "the people of England." If Lord Wolselcy wore asked the. same question to-da.. he might aoiswer with equal truth •'the.people of the Empire." (.)■ course, in a crisis involving the safet, of ..th.- Empire. Great Britait could count on the support of every one of her son.. We may feel proud to contemplate such devotion, but regarding the matter, in a purely practical light, if is obvious, that if this universal support is to be of much u,se, .these citizen battalions .mist

have undergone some previous training. And, speaking,generally, it will be much too late to think of training when the crisis is come. The Transvaal trouble is no fair case 1o reason from. There has been time there to put' considerable bodies of rawlevies in, battle trim before they bad to face the enemy. The great probability is that the land battles of the next great war will require tjie almost instant mobilisation of trained troops on our part if we are to have any chance against an enemy, for that enemy will, not unlikely, be some European Power with enormous bodies of men practically under arms, day and night. In', order to be absolutely prepared for such a struggle there is. in the opinion ol' eminent military authorities, one plan absolutely necessary, and that is universal military service for Home defence. The other day Lord Rosebcry, criticising Lord Salisbury's attitude in the war, remarked: "the noble _Marquis does not think we shall see compulsory service in the life of the'youngest peer present.. I. do not affirm or question that proposition, but

I can say I'do not think it so immeasurably remote as the noble Marquis considers that sonic form of compulsory service may have to be introduced to meet the growing exigencies of the Empire."' Though guarded in his remarks it seems to us that Lord llosebery regards' compulsory service of some kind as not very far off. At least it appears not improbable that for Home defence we may see that system in force. Public opinion in Great Britain will yet be brought, we believe, to acquiesce in such am arrangement as necessary, if England is to have at her immediate command in moments^of emergency a trained army adequate for the occasion. In the same way it is evident that if the colonies are to be of much use. to the Empire at critical times, it jvill not be enough to trust to the arrangement which in the present trouble has answered so well. There must be in all these colonies an actual Australasian army, always ready to act in defence of its own territory, and when necessary to send thoroughly efficient contingents abroad to help the Empire. The formation, of such an army would, in the opinion of the military authorities to whom we have already referred, be best attained by universal compulsory service. We scarcely think Australasian opinion is quite ripe for that change yet, but assuredly we shall require to have in the future military establishments on a much larger and more perfect scale than anything yet attempted here.