MILITARY DISPLAYS.

Evening Star, Issue 22383, 6 July 1936, Page 11

MILITARY DISPLAYS.

TO THU EDITOR. Sir, —“ Corporal ” asks if I have ever thought how these military parades (such as the one in question) have bound the Empire into such as it is. Candidly, 1 have not. Since “ Corporal ” has asked me, i. have pondered over it, . and the more I have thought of it the more 1 am convinced that mere military parades have not been instrumental in building up the Empire. I challenge “ Corporal ” to give me one instance where the British Empire has materially benefited by a military parade such as we have discussed, When,, “ Corporal ” says there is Jess “ flag waving ” in New Zealand than in other countries 1 feel that he is right. Too much “ flag waving ” is what Italy and Germany are suffering from, and leads to that very dangerous excess of national pride which is manifest in those countries. I have not sat behind a Lewis gun, and hope I shall never have to. .1 have sufficient imagination to see that there is nothing romantic in shooting down men against whom we have no quarrel, but are forced by the evils of capitalism to kill none the less. However, there are many young men who are not sufficiently imaginative to realise this aspect, and to whom the thrill of the mechanical perfection of a gun over-rides any inclination to consider it. The romantic aspect comes in when a young man whose education in history has been confined to the ridiculously one-sided school history text books, full of eulogies of British naval and military victories, and the bravery of various generals, etc., joins the Volunteers. It is only natural that on top of such second-hand knowledge the contact with actual war machines cannot fail to present a romantic aspect to the young man in question, i do not for a moment suspect the members of the parade of not being loyal to the King, but the fact that they turned out is no criterion of their loyalty. 'Jl:e reason is probably the reason of any averageminded person—namely, they get some enjoyment and evidently find the training appeals to them. Naturally, when they have to do something that possibly does not appeal to them——viz., a parade—what they think is this: “We are getting something out of this organisation which we like, it is only fair, therefore, that if the boss wants ns to turn out for King’s Birthday parade, wc should do so, since it is to him we owe our training.” That, i think, is the line of thought which is most likely to pervade the mind of the individual. —I am, etc.. Jnlv 0. Student.