DEFENCE SYSTEM

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 14, 16 July 1929, Page 14

DEFENCE SYSTEM

LABOUR PARTY'S VIEWS

CCBIPULSORY TRAINING

OPPOSED

The National Executive of the Labour Party has issued the following statement of its oposition to the compulsory clauses of the Defence Act, and the particular application of the penal clauses to two divinity students of the Presbyterian Church:—

The Labour Party, through Mr. W. J. Jordan, M.P., has introduced a Bill to Parliament providing for the repeal of the law which forces the youth of the Dominion to undergo military training. The party has always opposed compulsory training for war. In doing so it contends that the system now operating in the Dominion, is wasteful, unnecessary, unjust, harmful to a large eection of the youth of the Dominion, and repugnant to all methods that should be used for {he protection or building of New Zealand or the British Commonwealth.

. We have prided ourselves on the fact that we are more British than the British, and yet we ignore'one of the fundamentals of British thought and sources of its strength—the freedom of the individual from' conscription.

The system is wasteful in that the money allocated is ill-spent, and with the time occupied and the material used, could be more fruitfully employed in other directions, . as the methods adopted for individual training will under the natural development of military science.be obsolete before they can be applied. , THE EXEMPTIONS. The existing law makes provision fov ♦he exemption from training of cerlirtlain persons who are conscientiously Opposed to "war; but the validity of the 'jopposijtion is determined by the recorded theological belief of the particular church to which the objector may hap■feen to belong. It appears that the Jbbjection can only be . conscientious Jfhen held, not only by the youth afifeeted, but by the church to which his fether or grandfather, adhered. A memiber of the Society of Friends or Seventh Day Adventists may obtain fetemption; but members of the Anglican, Presbyterian, or other churches, or youths who are not adherents to any denomination, are denied a like privilege, and the ultimate, decision as to the conscientious nature of the- objection is left to a Stipendiary Magistrate. . A particular application of the law is illustrated by the prosecution of two student members of the Presbyterian Church, which culminated in their sentence by an Auckland Magistrate to a fine of five pounds and deprivation of the rights of citizenship for ten years, and ultimate imprisonment unless the fine is paid. The impossibility of determining the ■validity or otherwise of an expressed conscientious objection is agreed to by all scientists who have studied the problem. No tests can verify its authenticity or otherwise. The individual alone knows the motives which determine his action, and if his expressed opinion is that the training for war purposes is harmful, his statement should be accepted. Justice and the law are not always synonymous terms, but the first principle of the just administration is its equal application to , all. To test an individual conscience by special theological beliefs and the judgment of a Magistrate is an entire negation of this principle. REPEAL OP COMPULSION. The Labour Party, in pressing for a. repeal of the compulsory clauses, knows that a largo and growing nurnJ>er of parents and the general public have bo enthusiasm for compulsion, and that the majority of the boys and youths have no interest in the work, but put up with it as "a disagreeable legal obligation that would bring more disagreeable penalties if they did not carry it out. Eleven hundred and sixtynine of our boys and youths were brought to the Police Court for breaches of the Act last year. The system, is harmful to our youth in. that it takes them away from a healthy home environment and ' suspends their education at one of its most useful. periods, either by taking them from the secondary schools or from the trade or profession to which'they are apprenticed. The only apology offered for a continuance of the compulsory provisions in the Act is that it provides a physical training that is not obtainable from other sources, but if one-half of the money now expended on military training was devoted to the provision of gymnasia, playing grounds, and the promotion and organisation of healthy outdoor games under ideal conditions, the resultant improvement in virility and individuality (physical and mental) would far exceed, anything that is obtained under the present system. DISARMAMENT BY AGREEMENT. These are some'of the reasons why the compulsory clauses of the military 3aw should be repealed. Compulsion should be abolished at once. The Labonr Party also urges that the whole defence system requires investigation and reorganisation. The reorganisation should be undertaken at once, not in the old spirit of endeavouring to ensure peace by preparing for war; but that we may do our part in promoting the facilities that will by gradual stages lead to disarmament by mutual agreement between the, nations, : and the substitution of judicial arbitration through the Permanet Court of International Justice for the settlement of disputes and differences instead of the fratricidal methods of the past which have destroyed so many invaluable young lives. The natural development of intercourse between the nations of the world renders imperative the abolition of every policy that leads to \var, and the promotion of every possible facility that will lead to its abolition. Conscription has ever been an active agent in promoting the war spirit, and its abolition will be the first step towards a wiser and ultimately more effective defence policy.