"THE NEED FOR NATIONAL SERVICE."

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2618, 13 November 1915, Page 3

"THE NEED FOR NATIONAL SERVICE."

Sir,—Mr. R. S. Abraham, in a letter appearing in your issue of November 10,. under tho above heading, classifies the men of military age as under:— Firstly, tho fiery spirits who have mostly gone. Secondly, tlio thinkers who are now going from a sense of duty. Thirdly, tlio shirkers who will not go unless they are forced to.

May I ask if any of Mr. Abraham's sons volunteered for the "firstly" lot, or "whether they aro still' "thinkers" ? Does Mr. Abraham mean to say that the lads who were loyal enough to givo their services in tlie first instance did'so for the'fun of the thing and without any sense of duty? If so, I should liko to tell him he knows very little of the subject he lias written about.

If the "fieryl spirits," as your' correspondent dubs them, had all been "thinkers," and "only' going now," where would tho prestige of New Zealand stand among the nations of today?

Probably Mr. Abraham has said something which he does not mean. If so, he should admit the fact.—l am, etc., H. NORMAN LIARDET.

Wellington, November 11, 1915. [Mr. Abraharh plainly did not intend to cast any reflection on the gallant men who so readily responded to tho call at tlio earlier appeals for troops.]