The Grey River Argus WEDNESDAY, April 29, 1942. RELAYING N.Z. FIT MEN.

Grey River Argus, 29 April 1942, Page 4

The Grey River Argus WEDNESDAY, April 29, 1942. RELAYING N.Z. FIT MEN.

The latest call-up of nearly eighteen thousand men, the majority of them married.men with children, indicates the increasing'inroads which military service is making on the manpower. of the Dominion. This ballot, certainly, relates to Territorial service, but the distinction between this and oversea service b.as now largely' begun ' toi disappear, the rule,-in either case having become that of service for the duration of the war. None, however, would gainsay the wisdom of training all fit men for the country’s defence. If a week ago or so, it had to some appeared that the cam r paign in Burma would monopolise the forces of Japan until at least that country had been occupied, there now are fresh reasons to anticipate a far greater offensive by the enemy against Australia, and incidentally this country as well, in the not distant future. In spite of aircraft losses, which continue to he inflicted, at no great cost, by the Allied pl'anes in the north of Australia, the Japanese air attack not only shows no sign of deteriorating, but is’actually in-, creasing in the sense that fighter • craft are more . '‘h’umero.us. In ' addition. ,mbr,e. frppp.sNhaye ,beeu ’ Brought to Rabaul.’.a'nd more still arc. sure to follow? The Allies evidently arg : not, yet in. a . .position to go beyond those islands to htfack.'chcmy convoys.'Nevertheless, as far as New. Zealand is .meantime involved, a threat of ■invasion is not by any means Jimmediate. and the question has 'arisen as to whether it were farisjghted to tie up entirely to ‘niilitary training all of the time .the whole of the men drafted from industry, whilst leaving the Remainder of ' the fittest men without training in any comparable degree. In quite a number ‘of districts, there .have been agitations, for' much greater training of- the. fittest men who are .retained in. essential industry. From-, an economic standpoint, also,-the continual aggregation .withip. the camps of the fit’test.meu,, I .and parallel depletion essential- production,’ is to be .g'fKfuidicap if there is an 'alternatiYevp’which attains an I '.'f.quaT-niffiWy Objective and a I heater .econojutc: one. , We can:hbt, admittedly, expect to coni- I •pirro I .' or Canada j in 'productjyit.y, for. war, though . relntivelv Heircumstaneed quite ,

favourably in the matter of foodstuffs. Hence the country’s war effort, in the face of a necessity to import so much more material than it. can itself provide, is excellent. It could be probably made still better, however, if it should be possible, not only tomaintain essential industry at the present level, but also give proper, military training to men meantime retained to prevent too great a decline in that level. The suggestion in this regard yesterday offered in Parliament, by the Member for Westland should be worthy of the careful attention of the Government, and the War Cabinet. It is that from time to time the fit men- retained in essential industries should in detachments be relieved to undergo training by an equal number of the men whose training has been completed. The process, he said, might be carried to the point .where every fit ' man in the country of military; age will have been trained. The latest, New Zealand, experiment in training, ■ commenced . at. the Northern Military District School of Instruction, has gone to show that a month is sufficient with',' intensive methods to impartMim most essential, training that is-now called for. Men not specially selected have in a month been trained in the use of Bren guns, Mortars,' anti-tank rifles, sub-machine guns, $ grenades, bayonets, and also in field craft, map-reading, tactics, gas warfare, street fighting, and unarmed -combat. Reduction in parade ground drill io euaole the more important training, to. be carried out did not- result in any lack of morale or discipline. The thing thus appears to be feasible, as an alternative to the retention in camps marking time of a steadily growing and greatly preponderant section of the country’s fittest men. It could at least be given a trial in just the same way as the intensive training has been given a trial.