MILITARY TEAINING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 95, 23 April 1928, Page 6

MILITARY TEAINING.

The recent appeal for exemptio»,on accont of conscientious objections not only wmX a knotty problem for any mmgJZZ KJ* also brings up for consider**® a the whole question of the value of compnK military training. The training »ravkkdkT; well-conducted military camp has it-high live value, especially for discipline a£d in the development of team spirit, and tfJus is rest *- important in peace as in war. *£he tedmial training in a military camp i« of donbtfri value, and all modern tendencij -s are in tk direction of higher technique. J •'or an idari nation such as ours the first linf of dpf—. the navy, but the real strength nj ust nltimstdr be that of its manhood properly organised, tail a military organisation with "if s tendener to become stereotyped and fossilise d may beeaae unable and unwilling to avail ii self of rivfliu technique and experience. la the Corps it is comparatively easv t« attach civfl** experts to a fighting force. iml the wonfaH work of this corps in the British amy vat due to the co-operation of a small staff of medical officers possessed of mi| itarv rrprrirn with the large number of civil « n docton vfe offered their services after war I broke out. Tim principle should admit of dimension wiEhoat great difficulty to purely technical unita sack as engineering and signalling « cmpanies, tW» it is difficult to believe that tj ordnance —' army service branches wonkl not benefit W co-operation with merchant) 4 and Thmoh managers. It could not be set iouslv suggested that our Medical Corps woulH. be apprecubb improved by requiring all da (Mora to undent a small amount of military * training na* year, and it seems very doubitful whether ur of the technical branches shoui d consist of man than a nucleus staff g preferably mi as well as military experience. There is a danger of the military organisation being hat up to more than necessary numerical strength with possibly second or tj aird-rate ability, and this state of affairs co nld only unot the development of our ftfQ strength win necessary. RJJ FLE BRIGADE.