The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1912. MILITARY TRAINING.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 106, 3 May 1912, Page 4

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

FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1912. MILITARY TRAINING.

•! . For the cause that ticks assi&tanoe, ' For the lafong that needs resistance, J For tha future in the distance, ' A.nd the good that toe cam do.

I I According 10 all accounts, the AuckI land Mounted Rifles and the other de- ' ; tachmento nun- in camp a! Avondale > , are treating thrj: •work very eeriousJv, ■ and are consequently finding it, a really i enjoyable experience. Thus is certainly as it should be, and we -believe -that the vast majority of young , men. throughout J the Dominion T£ho--takx- up. their military I, training- in the right spirit will be prepared to testify that camp life can be interesting and pleasant as well as instructive, and that there its a. vast deal of personal satisfaction, -to -be got out of it, when officoro and men approach their , duties in the proper way. Wo have I beard a great deal recently, particularly ) from the South, about, the hardships endured by our young men in the training camps, and the degrading and demoralising influence that this sort of lite exercises upon them. But most of this . nonsense i≤ the outcome at either obstinate prejudice or sheer ignorance. The I people -who believe that military training ' J is inherently evil are naturally bound, to ' find excuses far denouncing the camps. •But a little impartial evidence is enough ' to-disprove any quantity -of these gloomy and depressing allegations. And even in Christchurch, the centre of the antimilltarLsi agitation, bitch evidence is forthcoming. A «»hort timo ago the •M,yttclton Times" published a letter . from a young nun -who had. just -uone his camp duty, and-uho*>ays he started work there with a perfectly -open mind, lie tells us thaHic.lii.rd his officers, be enjoyed his -work, and that ho felt all the better, physically, menially, and morally, for the dJicrpiinc he. had "been through. This strikes us a≤ -an eminently rational view of the case, <uid (jce helieve that it -nil! be warmly corroborated by a very large proportion of our yortng Territorials -throughout the country. We have said thai much of the projudii« against camp life and military .training prevalent here is due to sheer ignorance and misconception. As the '"Lyttelton Tlxze*" remarked a short time since in di&eussing this question, ' '"the opponents of universal service in- ! sist upon believing that thn worst fea- ! tures of conscription i>rr going to be reproduced in this country. They make i alannin.? suggestions regarding the pro- ' eeediiigis of military courts, ■which, by the war. arp always to be open to the i Press, .md they represent tyranny an.l injustice as the normal incideats of I military service.' Bui, as our contem- | perary- goes on to argue, there i≤ no . I reason or excuse for all this gratuitous ; i misrepresentation. In a, democratic i i ■ '■ ■ '

country smb. as -our own, tie abus.s of TnrHi.nTTgTr J incidental to- -compulsory service in Europe, arc practically cmpossible. "We- -ran understand the views c held by the "conscientious objector," " who find.-. llu.t -religious sctu;iUjs prevent *" him from having; anything to - <?o Trith training of iliLi sort. I'.uL wo must; conlcss thai \to do not understainl the attitude taken up -by the people "who dexiare that no -cirPTiinst ■would they ihrhi in defrnto of their homes or their country. Jlrpruiy, this humiliating a.r. I I contemptible \ieiv of Vac most sacral of human obiic.LLii>n3 is held by only ■a. .-.mall minority of. our people. LaVrß i must "be adjustcxl to the needs and intrjests of the community or the iiauoa regarded a. Tvjole. and v. c cannot sec that ihfre need be any hesitation aboii* enforcimr tue Defence Act upon everybody alike •"■Patriotism." as the "Age"' recently remarked, "Is not the monopoly i i any rlasß. The labourer, who has the. privilege or the franchise, a. Govrrnmfiit in vlik-ii > and his class hold practically supreme sway, whose "vrag-s and "Conditions of I.Lbour arc jruarantei 'l li\- law, has an equal .-take; in iho I country -\viLh liie fajiuor or the slir>;>- . keeper, and he tshould be equally ready 110 f 1)131 lie cloicii, ■: personal bervi'-n t, to the State,"' These. argiimenta apply ' i quite a≤ strongly to New Zealand as tv ! Australia; and it l= an omen o* happy . augcry for cur future that &o large a ; proportion of our young men are prepared cheerfully to undertake that. ' j primary re?potL£.biiity of preparing Uiem- : I selves for the defence ".' their country, Iv. h:-i every other t;jt.cn has jecogriisM I as the flf.-f. d;ity n- eiery able-bodieJ 1 r.i'.zon.