MILITARY DISPLAYS.

Evening Star, Issue 22382, 4 July 1936, Page 21

MILITARY DISPLAYS.

TO THE EDITOR. ' Sir, —Both “Advance” and “Student ” are in disfavour of military parados, but have they ever thought how , those mere “ flag-waving ” parades have hound the Empire into such as it is? Has it occurred to them that there is less “ flag-waving ” in New Zealand than iu any other country, and I might say -hat the “ flag-wav-ing ” in those other countries is mostly carried out hy men who make the business of war their livilihood. Yon will And all parties, war and others, always seem to do a lot of flag waving. As regards the romantic aspect of war, every man that has had any training in warfare knows well that it is far from romantic. If neither “ Advance ” nor “ Student ” has sat behind a Vickers machine gun or a Lewis gun, he can imagine what a delightful sport it must be to press the trigger and let streams of hell go loose that no man can fight through. Can you imagine any hoy sitting behind such a gun without the thought of what a horrible plaything of war he is using? I do, honestly, fail to see where the romantic aspect comes in, and I consider one of the best means of stopping war is to see that every boy is trained and shown what warfare is, and I am sure that the day will come when there shall be no more war for those hoys will be educated into the horrors of war without participating in one. That training would serve two purposes, for not only would it make our defence force stronger, but it would lessen the number of lives wasted in the event of a war Wasted, I said, and T mean it; it was because the men did not realise what was needed of them during the Great War, for they were not trained as the boys now have the opportunity, of being trained. Before closing I must state that had the boys not wished to show their loyalty to their king they would not have, turned out and will not turn out to be admired by the public, for it was/ a purely voluntary parade. I have defended the cause of a great Empire and I will close with a wish that every man, woman, and_ child pray witli mo that God may guide us clear of all warfare.—l am, etc., July 3. Corporal.