The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 1940, CONSCRIPTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 144, 19 June 1940, Page 6

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

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 1940, CONSCRIPTION.

For Me muk that lacks aetigtanec, For the wrong that needs resi*tanoe, For the future in the diitance, And the good that tee een Ho.

There has long been a demand for it; there has also been a rooted objection to it. Now we are to have it. The rush of events abroad, and the growing feeling that there cannot be an "all-in" war effort on the basis of a system of voluntary enlistment have both influenced the Government to its decision. There are many who feel strongly that conscription should have been introduced from the very beginning, but these will admit that, thanks to the patient efforts of the Prime Minister, tho introduction is made now with a far greater approximation to unanimity of approval in the community than would have been possible nine months ago. The danger of acu f e and bitter controversy, as in in the last war, was one to be averted if possible, and it has been averted. Now service to the State, in any capacity, military or civil, anywhere, may be required of any person in the Dominion over sixteen years of age. The method of "controlled intake" is to be followed, with the advantage that men will not be called up for any service until the authorities are to use them without delay. The classes of men to be called first, the order in which they are to be called, and the kind of service to be required of them— these are questions on which, perhaps, no final decisions have been reached. Meanwhile, many men, young, middleaged or elderly, and their relatives, are feeling glad to-day that the duty of personal decision, in some cases exceedingly difficult, has been taken out of their hands.

And now the Government itself has decisions to make, in circumstances of great difficulty, so that it will need all the help the War Council can give it. The international scene is changing with almost bewildering speed, and. the nature of the preparations behind the current scene cannot be certainly discerned. The conscription decision is a long step forward to the proper organising of man-power to meet war-time requirements. But what are those requirements f Are more New Zealand soldiers needed abroad—if so, where* Or should soldiers already s broad be recalled, and is it practicable to recall themf On these questions we must, anxiously await news from the region of the Mediterranean. That there must be, and is to be, a much greater effort than any made hitherto to strengthen home defences is taken for granted. What equipment and munitions for our soldiers, whether abroad or at home, ia certainly obtainable from England, Australia, the United States, or elsewhere f The announcement that a munitions production section of the Department of Supply has been established, and that the Minister of Supply is going to Australia, are indications that the Government has reconsidered these questions in the light of recent, unforeseeable events. It seems that this Dominion, while continuing the export of such foodstuffs as Britain needs most, in quantities limited only .by Nature and by shipping capacity, can best help the Mother Country by strengthening its own military and economic defences, so that the British Government and the Royal Navy will be relieved as far as possible of anxiety on our behalf.