ABOLITION OF C.M.T.
“Soft” Promise By Labour
(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Nov. 14. The Prime • Minister (Mr Holyoake) tonight described the Labour Party’s promise to abolish compulsory military training as “an emotional thing”—an admission that the country had gone “soft.” Speaking at Tokoroa to an audience of nearly 400, he said that the men close to Mr Nordmeyer were urging him to return to the old pacifist polity of the Labour Party. “This is an emotional thing,” said Mr HolyOake. “You know that if war comes, whether our soldiers are conscripted or voluntary, our young men will go and fight. “No government worth its salt would fail to see that the young men are not trained to look after themselves before they go. We all know that too many men did not come back from other wars as they were not trained to look after themselves. “I think it is terrible that politicians are going round saying: ‘We won't send you into camp. We have gone soft’. “The people must be ready to pay taxes to see that the young men are trained.”
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Press, Volume CII, Issue 30289, 15 November 1963, Page 14
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183ABOLITION OF C.M.T. Press, Volume CII, Issue 30289, 15 November 1963, Page 14
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