RECRUITING FOR ARMY

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25549, 17 July 1948, Page 8

RECRUITING FOR ARMY

COMMENT BY SIR HOWARD KIPPENBERGER

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 16. “The Minister’s statement is very gratifying and reiterates -the report of the New Zealand Returned Services’ conference,” said the Dominion president (Sir Howard Kippenberger) to-day, commenting on the proposals for compulsory training made by the Minister of Defence (Mr F. Jones) in the House of Representatives last night. “I am very pleased the Minister has brought the matter forward ac such an early stage in the session. Our association will give him every support, as the scheme meets our ideas very reasonably.” Sir Howard Kippenberger added that, speaking personally, he felt sure that former servicemen, to whom the Minister was looking to become officers, would volunteer in their hundreds. CRITICISM OF FORMER COMMANDER’S VIEWS (P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 16. On the grounds of common sense, the statement attributed to MajorGeneral H. E. Barrowclough, that the proposed new territorial army could be achieved only by universal compulsion, deserved the strongest possible opposition, said Mr R. Childs, secretary of the Wellington branch of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. Association to-day. It was difficult to see what useful purpose could be achieved by forcing 18-year-olds into camp, but serious damage to the national welfare would result if the drafts were to be as allembracing as Major-General Barrowclough demanded, said Mr Childs. Many technical students could give better service if their studies were allowed to continue, and it would be the height of stupidity to drag them away to become mess waiters or kitchen slushies. Advocates of peace-time conscription, said Mr Childs, appeared to forget that when previously tried in this country, it was a humiliating failure. His association of young returned men was deeply concerned that the Dominion should be prepared adequately for any future emergency, but it did not concede that conscription was the solution. The public should be fully informed of both sides of the question before a decision was reached. The association did not pretend to speak for its members until their views had been ascertained at the coming annual cnoference, but its final viewpoint would be based on an informed examination of both sides of the problem. x