DEFENCE POLICY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 10954, 20 July 1929, Page 10

DEFENCE POLICY

COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING. LABOR PARTY'S PROTEST, BILL TO COME BEFORE PARLIAMENT. The National Executive of tlio Labor Party has issued the following statement of its opposition to tbo compulsory clauses . of: the Defence Act, and" the particular application of the penal clauses to two divinity students of tbo Presbyterian Church. The Labor Party, through Mr AY. J. Jordan, M.P., has introduced a Bill to Parliament providing for the repeal of tliei law which compulsorily enforces the youth of the Dominion, to undergo military training. The party lias always opposed compulsory training for war. J.n doing so it contends that the system now operating in the Dominion is wasteful, unnecessary, unjust, harmful to a large, section of the youth of tlio Dominion. and repugnant, to all methods that should be used for the protection or building of New Zealand or tlie British Commonwealth. ; AYo Rave prided ourselves on the fact that we are more British, than the British, and yet we ignore . olid of tlio fundamentals of British thought and sources of its strength, tin* freedom of tlio individual from conscription. The• system is wasteful in that the money allocated is ill-spent and with the time occupied anil the material used, could be more fruitfully employed in other directions as the metliods adopted for individual training will under the natural development of military science he obsolete before they can be applied. PRESENT LAW UNJUST. Tbo existing law makes provision for the exemption from training of certain persons who are conscientiously opposed to war; but tbo validity of the opposition is determined by the recorded theological belief of the particular 'church to which the objector may happen .to belong, ft appears that the objection can only, be conscientious when licld, not only by the youth, 'affected, but by the. church to which bis father or grandfather adhered. A member of the Society' , of -Friends or Seventh Day Adventists may obtain exemption: hut memljors of the Anglican, Pres-’ byte rial), and other churches, or youths who are not adherents of any denomination are denied a, like privilege. and tbo ultimate decision as to the conscientious nature of the obiection is left to a Stipendiary Magistrate. AN AUCKLAND CASE.. A particular application of the law, is illustrated by the persecution of of two student members of the Presbyterian Church, which culminated'' in their sentence by an Auckland Magistrate- of a. fine of five pounds and deprivation of the rights of citizenship for ten rears, and ultimate imprisonment- unless the fine is paid. The impossibility of determining the validity or otherwise of an expiessed conscientious objection is agreed to by all scientists who hare studied the problem. No tests can verify, its authenticity or otherwise.: The individual alone knows the motives which determine his action, and if bis expressed opinion is that the training for war purposes is harmful. liis 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 t-'-st an individual eon science by special theological beliefs and the judg-. incut of a Magistrate is an entire negation of this principle.

OVEIt A THOUSAND PROSECUTIONS LAST YEAR. '.l'lic Labor Party, in pressing for a repeal of the compulsory clauses, knows that a large and growing number oi’ parents and the general public have no enthusiasm for eoinuulsion and that the majority of the buys and youths have, no_interest in the work, but put up with it ws. a disagreeable legal obligation that would bring mure- disagreeable penalties if they did not cany it out. Eleven hundred and sixty nine of our hoys and youths were brought to the : Police Court for breathes of the Act last year. The system is harmful to our youth in that it takes them away Vi urn a, healthy home environment a.ml suspends their education at one of its most useful periods, either by tiling them lio the oeoniiv, - ;liOw taking them from the secondary schooks or from the trade or profession to which they are apprenticed.' : 'l'he only apology offerer! for the continuance of the compulsory provisions in the Act is that it providesi a physical training that is not obtainable from other sources, hut if' one half of the money now expended on military training was devoted, to l.lm 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. obtain?*!, under the present system.

REORGANISATION OF DEFENCE These are some of the reasons why the compulsory clauses of the military law should he repealed. Compulsion should lie alolishcd at once. The Labor Party also urges that the whole defence system requires investigation and re-organisation. The .reorganisation should lx> undertaken at. once, not in the old spirit of endeavouring to ensure peace by preparing for war; but that we may clo 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 Permanent Court of International Justice for tlie settlement of disputes and differences instead of the fratricidal methods of the past which have destroyed so many valuable young lives. The natural development Of intercourse between the nations of tho world renders 'imperative tlie abolition of every policy that leads to war, apd tho promotion of every possible; facility that'will lead to its abolition. Conscription has even been an active agUnt in promoting the war spirit, and its abolition will be the first step towards a wiser and 'ultimately more effective defence policy.’ - -... >.c”'V' ...... ..