STANDING TO HIS GUNS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 87, 12 April 1912, Page 6

STANDING TO HIS GUNS.

The character of the deputation which waited upon the Minister of Defence yesterday to condemn the system of compulsory military training tended to emphasise. the solidity of this city in favour of the system. Ifc was a deputation of Wellington citizens that had waited upon tho Minister on the previous day to urge the faithful administration of the system. Tho reply came from the representatives of a number of Anti-militarist, Socialist, and Labour organisations, but from the long list of speakers the names of the representative Laljour men of "Wellington, were almost entirely absent. Eliminate the Socialist element and the Christchurch element, and there would have been little indeed left of the deputation. It was introduced by the Socialist M.P. whose lirst vote in Parliament was contrary to the declarations on the strength of which he had secured election; and the first of its principal spokesmen was a Socialist agitator who has told the workers that only a fool would regard an agreement as sacred, and they should, if necessary, "toss every agreement to Hell." A party which takes this unconventional view of ordinary obligations cannot be> expected to recognise the obligation of every able-bodied member of a State to defend it from attack, or the corresponding right of the State to qualify its members for the discharge o$ that obligation by insisting upon their receiving tho necessary training. The omnipotence which the.' Socialist usually seema to claim lor

tho State mnst be taken to be limited by the implied proviso that any purposeof which ho does not approvo is beyond its province. Two men whom we \vcrt> tsorry to see in the Socialist gallery were Mr. O'Regan and Professor Mills. Mr. O'Eogan, whose antipathy to the gold lace- and the feathers, proclaimed in many a sonorous period, blinds him to tho merits of th© man, and who is consumed with a noble scorn for the Kitcheners and the Baden-Powells and the Godleys— and we presume for the Wel'ingtons and the Nelsonetoo — might have been expected to draw the line at incitement to law-breaking. But, as he does not, there is no reason why he should feeJ ashamed of holding a brief for the Federation of Labour in this matter. Professor Mills, to whom a scarlet coat is, apparently, not the red rag that it is to Mr. O'Regan, and whom at one time we understood to have strongly advocated the claims of a citizen army ■upon 'the worker, took the lowest possible level yesterday when he urged that the only possible use of the Territorials would be- in connection with industrial disputes. The eloquence of Professor Mills has sometimes placed a high ideal of statesmanship before the workers, but rubbish of this sort is worthy of the professional demagogue. It is what they call "hot air" in. the great country irom which ho hails. With the arguments of the other speakers we cannot deal at any length. They were in general such a singular compound of truculence, gush, and unreason that they may be said to hay« answered themselves. A. single gleam of unconscious humour relieved the awful blackness of their picture of the ruthless military oppression which is throttling the liberties of this unhappy land. The Government was actually censured by <>ne speaker for ruining the Volunteer system! That the class of man who has been sneering at soldiering and patriotism and loyalty to the Empire should find an advocate who can poee, even in a single sentence, as the champion of Volunteering is indeed a supreme stroke of humour. Though it may be spoiling a good joke to treat it seriously, may we ask whether the opponents of universal training include a single man who had "scorned delights and lived laborious days" as a Volunteer before the new system was established, or who would help as a Volunteer now if that system were abolished ? It must have been an unpleasant experience for a busy Minister to have to listen tt> the illogical and sometimes ill-mannered argument with which he was plied for nearly two hours; but everybody will agree that he emerged ' triumphantly from, the ordeaL In days when political truckling has become a habit, and almost a science, it does one's heart good to see a Minister standing to his guns in the face of such a fire from men who are supposed to bo the political allies of his own party, and calmly and quietly, but unflinchingly, refusing to budge an inch. So far frorn^ attempting to gloae over irreconcilable differences, Mr. Myers showed himself even less favourably disposed towards the views put forward by the deputation than he- did when replying to the deputation that urged the full enforcement of the law on the previous day. He had nothing to say about reducing sentences to mitigate hostility. "JTou have, of course, nailed your colours to the mast," was the Minister's reply to the throat of deadly consequences if he did his duty, "and it is necessary for me to do likewise. As far as I am concerned, so long as I am Defence Minister, it will be cl my duty to administer the Act." Nothing could have been clearer, firmer, or more satisfactory. On various minor points^ — such as the paramount necessity of defence, the fallacy of the sorry plea that the worker has nothing to defend, and the all-round benefits .of the training even for the pursuits of peace — the Minister's replies were sensible and cogent. He has" been taken to task by a friendly critic for refusing to favour the prohibition of the employment of the forces in industrial disputes. Yet his reply to his questioner was the only possible one for a Minister with a due sense of responsibility, viz., that law and order must be maintained. If the Socialists declaTO war on society by substituting ( for reasoning an appeal to brute 4 force, is society to tie its hands and take its beating lying down ? Certainly not, aud for that veaton the Sc-ciaJists will be wise from their own point of view not to neglect the opportunities of military training that are now offered them. From every standpoint the Minister seems "to us to havo handled the deputation admirably. He has shown tho • country that there is a man in charge of the Defence Department, and we shall be surprised if the reputation of the Government does not go up tenfold in consequence. .