SECTIONAL UNITS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 132, 7 June 1939, Page 10

SECTIONAL UNITS

Some weeks; ago, in the initial

stages of thejfmoverrient to strengthen the defence tforces of New Zealand, a proposal, was made in Auckland to form a special unit of trade unionists $or service in the Territorial Arany. The idea as set out in a Press Association message from Auckland) at the time was that a company of 200 men between the ages of/ 19 and 35, enlisted from bona fifae members of trade unions, shouldfbe officered by trade unionists specially trained, and that a special reserve company of 100 men between the afges of 35 and 55 should be offe;qed to the Minister of Defence as a cjomplete trade-union unit with trade-union officers and non-com-missioned officers. The implication therefore was that the unit would be confined to trade-union members amid no others need apply. What J&as happened to the proposal since, /whether it fell flat or was turned

fdown by the authorities, or whether fthe promoters in Auckland are still at work on it, is not clear. The principle involved in tne formation of such a unit is open to obvious and serious objections on the ground of public interest, and the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce was fully justified in supporting the initiative of the junior chamber against the proposal and in deciding to place the position before the Associated Chambers of Commerce with a view to organised action.

The objections are several. There is, first, the danger of introducing class-consciousness and party politics into a citizens' army, which has been and should always be above and outside such divisions. The corollary to the formation of trade-union or Labour units might very well be, as the president (Captain Holm) suggested, "a farmers' unit completely officered by farmers, or a unit solely composed, say, of solicitors." It is obviously wrong to allow any political or professional body to be organised and armed as a complete unit, capable of action, in emergency, on its own behalf and in the interests of the group it represents. On the military side the objections are equally serious. While it may assist recruiting to appeal to special interests and form exclusive units, the difficulties of military organisation are vastly enhanced. This was the experience of Britain in the Great War, even with the maintenance of special corps raised in the rush of early volunteer recruiting and also in the upkeep of battalions of local regiments. It is much simpler to deal with recruits when they can be freely allocated to whatever positions fit in best with the general organisation of defence. Any tendency that would handicap the authorities in organising national defence to the best advantage should be strongly opposed.