CONSCRIPTION AND NATIONAL SERVICE.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2679, 27 January 1916, Page 6

CONSCRIPTION AND NATIONAL SERVICE.

Sir,—Although the question of forcing men to render military service is, so far, not' being considered seriously, correspondence on the subjeot should not pass unnoticed, so that what is valid and weighty, may be emphasised, and what is irrelevant and useless set aside Should it ever be proposed to procure soldiers by this means we would do well to first decide whether it is absolutely necessary, and then, if it would succeed? If the raising or soldiers is the summum bonum of our existence just now, it follows that how best to raise them is our chief consideration. A correspondent, "G.8.A.," in your issue of the 20th inst., says: "There seems to be some confusion of thought m'the objections to conscription or national service put forward by its opponents." It is not surprising that there should be confusion on this vital question, seeing that mental pandemonium reigns supremo throughout the civilised world to-day. John Stuart Mill says: "He wlio seos only liis own side of a question sees little of that," but as national questions have really no sides to bo considered, but rather phases _ and aspects, the controlling forces in a democracy such as ours are sometimes hard to find, and in their action often capricious and tinjust. A democracy claims the right to do what it will, and unless better counsel prevails, is quite at liberty to rush headlong to destruction; in which case it is each individual's prerogative to save himself, best he can, from an untoward and perverse generation. That other countries have instituted compulsory service is not evidence in our case. AVe should take our case on its own merits, at all times, and under all conditions, and if we are not able to do this we will fail. To do anything simply because others" do it is a frank admission of our ignorance and incapacity. To be armed to the teeth, and have no other defence is surely the height of barbarism, and we hope that Britain at least has other forces at her command besides physical repression. The amount and nature of the chastisement needed to tamo the Prussian militant spirit is a matter that seems to have been little considered by the Allies. If the doctrine and system of dominion by coercion and terrorism is wrong and impossible, it can be superseded only by something more propitious and effective. In any case, the application of the proper amount of any kind of force to a nation at any time for some specific purpose is not a matter for indiscriminate haggling, but should be dealt with by those qualified for the task.

Your correspondent has some rather peculiar notions of a child's position and rights on being born into this world; his attitude suggests that the young stranger's appearance is a wilful intrusion on the community, and lor so offending a millstone of debt must be hung about his neck, which, however, he says, can be cut adrift by this one great sacrifice of military service. Truly, a goodly heritage, and one we hope "G.E.A." has earned—the writer here must have lost himself in a labyrinth of feeling, for this is worse than the Prussianism he so dreads. If the bringing of children into the-world is fraught with such consequences to the innocent child its sponsors should indeed glory in the blissful conditions they have created for it, and the population question of the future should not be hard to solve. I will give "G.E.A."

the credit of not being in earnest in placing property on a higher level than life, in which case he would be showing his lack of knowledge of • the nature, proportion, and fitness of things. He may rest assured that New Zealand has played, and . will continue to play, her part in the world's tragedj', but to aohieve this we must preserve good feeling and unity amongst ourselves, irrespective of our money value. We should remember that the art of na-

tional defence cannot be executed in an impetuous, spasmodic way, but must be carried out in a manner suitable to

those who must bear the brunt of the conflict, and the more considerable and just we are to our eligible manhood the more certain are wo to succeed in our undertaking. There are natures that oan he led, but that will sit back on the point of the bayonet when driven. In an enlightened community men are not mere pawns to he moved at the will of anyone, but they aro ever ready to defend their rights and. liberties when they are given fully to understand that they are in danger. There is certainly a place for everyone in this straggle, but our national organisation is not such that it can proscribe what that place shall be, and those who in & selfish or self-sufficient way sweepingly presume to lay down the law for others should not forget that such conduct can often, with justice, be taken as evidence of the shirker, the guilty, and the hypoorite. Should-the war accomplish nothing else, it will at least beget heart-searchinga that will test everyone's moral and spiritual standing, and reveal what he really is. Whatever may be said of our frivolities, our amusements, and our sports in this time of trial, it would not be wise at the present juncture to'go into national mourning, and thus hinder oui initiative and power of accomplishment by an inane and gloomy listlessness. Serious as our position is, the maintaining of good nearts and cool heads is no inconsiderable part of a national service that all can perform.—l am, etc., WM. BAHR.