CORRESPONDENCE. COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 31 July 1911, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING.

Llo the Editor.}

+v ,Sir '~lt came t° Pass in the fullness of: the years, that the legislature of ZeTandia sat in deep and ponderous debate^ It tn5 OUSe W?***- people of lkrent f^ SUP OSmg t his to be an inteligent and Humane body of men, who. Swf c + wlj c.- laws and adhere foSfully to the traditions of the "Old Land" (especially that which saith that -Sri-. wWT I ? 6Vf; r shall be slaves") had. voted them to their present position of. honor. But, alas! this is not the first, occasion on which the people have • W tiust in utter rottenness. And it came to pass that one of the* members of this astute Assembly assum* ed the vertical position peculiar to man. ZuT h* wisi "f to give his tongue free, play and after a few preliminary scratches at the place supposed to con--•5 bra, lns s Pake to his brethren, and said, Come, now, let us formulate a scheme for our country's defence and make it law—a scheme which for darincr audacity, and absolute absurdity will make our most stupid blunder in thepast at law-making appear as the finegold of wisdom by comparison. Our young men are not imbued with a sufficient amount of patriotism to causethem to waste their time and substance - in the riotous business of volunteering • come, now, let us make a law which, will compell them to become soldiers " , ti'i. indeed > there was a mighty babel of tongues around that Counciltable, for there were still a residue of intelligent men in that Assembly, whose common sense warned them against thissubtle, insidious, liberty-destroying proposal. It was argued—and justly—that S uC\ a • would be directly opposed to all the principals of democracy, and that inasmuch as men who had neither flocksnor herds nor any worldly possessionswould have to fight in time of war in defence of the property of men whothemselves would not be called on to strike a blow, the scheme was absolutely unfair. It was pointed out that during the Napoleonic, Crimean, and Indian, mutiny/ and many other wars, Britain had never had recourse to coercion, and. that that fact embraced one of the secrets of her greatness, and that it would appear to outside nations that we arein a state of decadence which they will probably not be slow to make use of ifoccasion offers. It was also pointed out, that we could no longer claim to be afree people.

All reasonable arguments failed, however, and this insane scheme of a drivel--ling Government has become law. A great many more arguments could be adduced against this scheme, and I will endeavour to produce a few. There is a great deal more underlying; this scheme than at first meets the view, I think. In the first place, the thing is meanness itself, in that it robs mere boys of their liberty. Had it been from 21 (the age when a male is supposed tobecome a man) to 40 or 50 years of age, the thing would not have been so abominably bad. although it would be bad anyhow. Perhaps some of the membershave sons about 22 years of age, who* by this scheme, just escape by the skin, of their teeth. Or, perhaps, the members were looking out for themselves, because they may not always be in thehouse; in fact, some of them should not* be there now. Boys between the ages; of .14 and 21 require looking after by their parents or guardians, and would befar better at home at nights improving., their minds than out playing at soldiers. Then there are boys at colleges, studying hard for exams, who will have toslmg the whole thing up, and go into camp, or will our clever Government issue special exemptions for certain classesOf course, such plebian occupations as oow-spanking, engineering, carpentering, and all that sort of thing are not worth considering. The inconveniencewhich employers will be put to is evidently not worth taking into account. The fact that this law will be the ruin of many ,boys is also not worth a passing thought. It may be asked in whatway it will ruinthem. My answer is that inasmuch as this business will suit many boys right down to the ground, it will mean their ruin, because they will* think and talk of nothing else, and, consequently, will be uselesse;ther at trade or profession. The' public-house will also reap a richharvest after drill, I fear. In the hot blazing summer the boys wiir have to go into camp, where as is generally usual, insanitary conditions will probably prevail, illness and fever resulting. And even snould the conditions bemost cleanly, there will be cases of sunstroke and exhaustion from over-drill.. And if a boy goes home seriouslyy il]^ will the Government compensate theparents ? Not much! There is another thing to be look at: This law will prevent monied men from coming into the Dominion, on account of their sons, and it will probably drive others out. And if trouble in the shape of an invasion came, would this compulsory scheme re~ suit in any benefit to us? I think not. If the brown men who "smote" the Russians "hip and thigh" in Manchuria came here, our boys would melt befor© them like snow in thaw. Another thing the Government has not considered—a net that is the flag. The Union Jack is the "flag of the free," and consequently will not be suitable to our requirements.—■ I am, etc., DEMOCRAT.