COMPULSORY TRUSSING.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 12, 15 January 1912, Page 3

COMPULSORY TRUSSING.

ACT TO BE ENFORCED

Lieut.-Colonel J. J. Burnett-St/nart,

' D.5.0., Director of Military Operations! and Intelligence at General Headquarters, and at present in temporary command of ike Canterbury ' Military District, has made m h\- ' teresting statement to the Christchurch Press in reply to the question: ; "What steps will be taken to enforce i registration and attendance at i parades under the Defence Act?" '• Everything possible, lie said, would .be done to get the linfcls to roadster i without any friction being caused. "I ! want it clearly understood that we I will do our utmost to avoid any I harshness," he continued. "If it can ibe shown to our satisfaction that v i lad is quite unable through some j cause or other to attend parades he i will be excused from doing so. If he \ dclibenitely attempts to evade his r«v j sponsibility, however, he will be hand!ed over to the police authorities—l\j though tliis step will be taken only os ■ the last resource. The penalty is, I think, a fine of £5, or fourteen days" imprisonment." Some people seem in

j tliink that onoe they had p«'i^<i the fine I they are under no obligiition io trouble any further about tlio parades. But this is quite eri'oneous. They can be handed over to the civil authorities to be dealt with a second or even v. thiid time. Of coarse, I don't anticipate any such extreme | trouble as this, however. Personally. ■ 1 have found some of the most trucu--1 lent youths quite amenable to reason | It is on>ly a matter of coming into peri sonal contact with tliom and quietly ! explaining the whole tiling to them, j and disabusing their minds of any : miaapprehensions they may have. Ju j many cases I l;ave found that the lads are themselves willing enough to nt- j .- tend parades but have been re- ' strained from doing so by their ' paients. Tliis fact has come'out two !or tliree times in Court.' In such 'instances the father will be held responsibie. When once th© public aro fully cognisant of the scheme I do not think there will be much trouble Most of the opposition comes not from the lads themselves, but from organised opposition of people who are not , eligible to serve."