OUR CITIZEN SOLDIERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 278, 21 November 1913, Page 4

OUR CITIZEN SOLDIERS.

While the Empire Commission was touring Australasia Its members naturally displayed a great deal of interest in the colonial systems of national defence; and 3inee their return they have expressed very emphatically their surprise and gratification at the 6ucces3 which has attended the efforts of the people of Australia and New Zealand to inaugurate a national military system O _j on tational and democratic lines. More especially they were interested in out attempt to train the boys of our country in the rudiments of military discipline and conduct; and the great review of IS,OOO cadets which the Commissioners witnessed in Melbourne two months ago seems to have impressed itself profoundly upon their imagination. The

boj'S apparently made a fine showing, and the effect of such a. display upon men accustomed to hear anything like compulsory military training denounced and decried as un-British and tyrannical, seems from our point of view to have I been extremely illuminative and instruc- ! tive.

It has been well said that the Austra- j lian system of military training, which 13 substantially the same as our own, is "a rational compromise between the Con- j tinental system of conscription and the British volunteer system."' It is certainly an attempt to combine the bene- ! Sts of these two opposing systems, and avoid the defects of both, and so far as it has gone it has succeeded admirably in this purpose. The initial step is the compulsory training of our boys from early youth in physical drill and j habits of military discipline; and in j Australia it is claimed by the advocates j of the system that it has already amply justified itself so J far as the boys are concerned- . "Already," says the '"Age" in a recent! article on this subject, "we are beginning j positively to visualise some of the benefits we hoped for when we brought the | system into force. The Australian; 'slouch,' that was so often remarked by i foreign visitore and Hung at us as a reproach, is rapidly disappearing. Our boy 3 are acquiring a briskness of gait and a dignity of carriage fresh to experience. They are less inclined to lounge at street corners, smoking and spitting and 'guying' peaceful passengers. A new spirit has inspired them. They are obviously improving both in body and in mind. Their native independence of character 13 being tempered by discipline and chastened by a dawning percipienee of I patriotic duty and honourable purpose. In short, they are developing in manliness and consciously qualifying to be men; and instead of merely 'growing up' as seli-indulgent units o" a listless and } spiritually unambitious mass, they are | taking an active interest in the sym- ! metrical development of the various S latent faculties which the system has ! revealed to their notice and imposed on j their consideration." The "Age" main- ; tains that there is ample evidence to i support these statements, and on all : these grounds it, considers that "it is : not a whit too much to say, even at this : early stage, that the Australian ! national system of defence has mag- | nificently vindicated the claims and j aspirations of its protagonists and i founders."

But the cadets are only the foundation of our military system; and it may be fairly argued that tho principles on which the main body of our citizen armies arc being organised are far more rational and scientific than tho__e hitherto followed elsewhere. "The Continental Powers of Europe," as the "Age" puts it, "create their armies by methods and processes that ignore the wisdom of co-operating with the facts of life and laws of Nature, and which thereby necessarily impair industrial efficiency. They take, hold of their young men just at tlie ■.iioment when they should be commenc-

ing the economical battle of life, and bind them in concentrated nnd constant servitude to tie machine of militarism for a period of ■wasteful years/* But in Australia and Setv Zealand we have changed these methods completely. Tie colonial system of national training does not needlessly interfere in any way -with the duties and ! responsibilities of ordinary life. Our boys and young men under this system " are ever learning to *oe soldiers, but also they are always learning to 'ds citizens; and that is th« supremeet merit of the system. It does not withdraw them for one unnecessary moment at any period rfom their civic duties. The boys may be fitting themselves to be lawyers, doctors, or mechanics. The system i= extremely jealous of their soldierly efficiency, and it insiets that they shall become good soldiers; but it recognises that it is not less important they should become good mechanics, good business men, lawyers, or doctors, and therefore it imposes no handicaps on the ■ways and means of industrial education. and it provides €Tery trainee with ample leisure and opportunity throughout its course to engage continuously in the ordinary business of life." Ail this is generally recognised throughout Australia and'iXew Zealand by everyone who has considered thi3 important topic without prejudice. The people of Australasia have tie satisfaction of knowing that in regard to national defence they have struck out a line for themselves that promke3 success beyond their utmost hopes; and it* i 3 to be hoyed that the members of the Empire Commission who watched these object lessons ia the formation of a citizen army amongst us may be able to convince the people ol England that the "Motherland might in this respect at least most advant?.gei ously follow the example of her children berond the seas.