THE TERRITORIALS.

Evening Star, Issue 14636, 4 August 1911, Page 3

THE TERRITORIALS.

Tb*re was a large gathering of citizen farmers, and Territorials at tho Town Ha last evening to hear General Godley, con mander of tho New Zealand Forces, i respect to the system under which tr iww Defence Act operates. Tho Mayor (Mr W. Bumettl preside* and said that General Godley had com to Dunediu in the first place to spaa about this great movement of the nntverss t uining of our young men, but ho al; came to answer any questions as to th duties when called out. General Godley, a pleasant speaker, wli •was received with applause, said he wishe to tell them of some of the dtffieultk that had cropped up in regard to th scheme. He wanted to clear up an doubts that might have arisen, and wit their assistance to arrive at some solutio of their many difficulties. Ho would lik to let them know how very well tho regis tration and rnedhal examinations ha< gone in Dunediu, and. in fact, throughou ihe whole of the Otago district. The re suite had been very satisfactory. Th medical examination had only been a. ligh one, because their work was to make th training as universal as possible, am therefore they had not rejected any bod; who could iiii any way benefit by th training. They had only rejected thos who wVre unfit to be trained and to when training might do harm. Another thin] bo had to tell them was that the kites 18-pcrander field guns for luvercargill am Dunedin would arrive before the end o tho year. He hoped that thoy would havi *u up-to-date battery of modern guns hen before tho end of the year. (Applause. First of all, there was the difficulty abon young men at technical schools." Then had been an idea that they wouhl he c-allce out for training on any night that suiloe the military authorities. They did nointend to do any such thing." A youiij, man who, had to go to the Technica iSehool on a particular night could tro t< his drill on another night. Ho now- spokt to the farmers. They had arrange! U have camps of their military regiment: quite late in May—the slackest- time. Hi was speaking mostly of mounted corps. {>ecause he hoped that the people engaged in fanning would belong to mounter: branches. • Ha hoped that. ot:o of th< ways in which the farmers would heir. them and the men would bo by allowing them to have horses as far as they could. A great difficulty arose in respect- U drills and parades throughout the year. They did not want to be •unreasonable at all. They did not want to bring men in a long distance on horseback to do an hour's drill and then go bark again. T'nev wanted to have the drills progressive, bin to meet tiie farming community more- than halfway they would allow these drills and parades to be lumped together. If that rould not be done, thoy would do this •. they would not. ask the men io come away frora the farms. If thoy could not get away, then they would send a- sergeantmajor to drill them after milking hours. (Laughter and applause.) The men had to be drilled. There was no mistake about that. They would be drilled, if he had to go to the farms himself. (Laughtet. 1 Men would have to get away for one week in the year. They had to "face that, and that applied to all employers of labor. If thoy could not let all their men awav. then those who did not get away would have to l>eoome " casuals." With the new scheme if. had come to bo a question of money. They would have to wait for drill halls. Th«y wanted employers to do all they could in the way of giving the men some place where they could get out of tho wet and out of the. eold in tho winter to do their drill. That day he had inspected a site for a drill hall further away than the Oval, and they would Itavo it as soon as they eoukl. "He appealed to employers to" let them have shelter where the men could drill. They wanted them to help them to make it easy for the men. He hoped, too, that they would give them tramway concessions. The Mayor complimented General Godlev- on the able and tactful manner in which he had expressed his views, lie was satisfied that if any man was going to make a sueees.s uf this new schemes that man was General Godley. (Applause.) General Godley answered" several questions, after which a hearty vote of thanks was accorded him for his interesting address on the motion of Mr J. U. F. Haruel, •econded by Mr T. R. Christie.