COMPULSION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 128, 2 June 1939, Page 6

COMPULSION.

NOT A NEW KfeA.

(To the Editor.)

The attitude of the public f-owarde conscription in defeuce of our country is r«e<~ii]ia.r. We a* a nation arc firmly convinced that comjmlfory education i- necessary and we are ;-atistied to euniply with a niimher of law* of a eompul-ory imtmv. and accept m democratic, hut the idea of universal training in arm.* is a hereby to us. Why ;s this? Iβ it cowardice, or it relin •inn. <> to give up some of our creature , comforts whilst in camp, or is it the last stuiid against compulation which we as a people inherently abhor? Whichever may be correct, there can ]>c- no jrainsayincr iliat a liv-e soldier is worth more thaa a dead civilian, and in actual war one trained man is better than a dozen untrained. In any business the tradesman is a necessity; to become a tradesman an apprenticeship ha* to be served. applies tn thp defence forces in an even greater niea«-ure. and no finer example cmi he quoted than the exploit* of the "Old 1 ■-•ntemptiblo" in thu f.-oat W«. Traininjr in arms is an insurance to the trainee and the country. UIA-. K. HKO< iKE. .". ii.jo.