SUCCESS CLAIMED TOO SOON.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 193, 17 August 1939, Page 10

SUCCESS CLAIMED TOO SOON.

Your amazing editorial on deifence in the "Star" of the 15th inst. calls - for outspoken criticism which I hope you will allow me the privilege of expressing through your columns. In the first place, you say a "large proportion of territorials are very young. That is not to their discredit—the contrary is true.*; But the whole tone of your article infers a dktrwt in these young territorial*. It would sewn that any form of polemics is suitable argument for the "Star'? to awe in its efforts, to j&credit the Labour Government's voluntary gywtem, for I seem to remember that during the recent recruiting campaign the "Star" criticised the voluntary system on t'lie grounds that the recruiting showed that a very large proportion of the men offering were in the older age croups and that there was a deplorable reluctance on the part of youth to recognise their responsibilities. Which of the above statements do you wish your readers to believe ; i -id which to take as untrue, for it is obvious they do not coincide. Further, you ask: "Of the thousand recruits who responded in Auckland to the Mayor's appeal how many are regular in their parade attendances now?" Thank you for the further slur against the men who have shown their _ willingness to defend Kew Zealand. I am in a position to say that the vast majority attend regularly at considerable personal sacrifice. Most of them are employees and I have observed that where there is irregularity of attendance It is owing to their employer* being unwilling to m#ke a similar sacrifice in allowing them time for parade attendance -where auch conflicts with overtime, shift work, or where it happens that they are asked to make-up jott a little towards * wages for attendance at camps, etc., What about a little conscription in this direction ? Further, you aak: "How many will still be keen in six months, in » year, in two yearsV Well, if they are not, as you suggest by inference, would the compulsion that you advocate make good soldiert o.ut of the poor material that you evidently believe the nation's manhood to be? Perhaps you have failed to grasp the significance of the new r incentive, for it is certainly just this that will make territorials even -more keen tf time goes on. I refer to the new incentive created by the growing consciousness of the advantages of a broader democracy, which the Labour Government has fostered, and the need to defend democracy against the growing threats of all forms of reactionary dictatorship. > XEW PATRIOT.

["New Patriot" is "evidently resolved to se» offence where none was given or intended. The statements which lie professes to think contradictory are easily reconcilable. Let him coni]*are the number of men in Sew Zealand of military age—say 20 to 35 years—with the total enrolments, and the age-composition of> the territorialß. To 'his statement that the "vast majority" of recruits attend parades regularly tlie" reply is that -when the force » so small it cannot -Tie adequate to its purpose unless not merely his asserted "vast majority." but all, are thoroughly trained. We do not know, nor does "Xew Patriot," "how many will still be keen in six months,'* etc., nor do the military authorities, know, and therein lies one weakness of the present system as it affects training.—Ed.]