DEFENCE Oh NEW ZEALAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 17 September 1908, Page 4

DEFENCE Oh NEW ZEALAND.

THE DECADENCE OF VOT/UN- , TEERING. . STRONG COMMENTS BY THE | MINISTER, i , Mian Press Association. 1 WELLINGTON, Wednes. In the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon it was stated by Mr R. McNab. Minister of Defence, that his statement as reported in a Wellington ■ Diner in connection with the memorial > service to Major Von Tempsky, that ij "we in New Zealand were living in a fool's paradise," was correct. People were said to live in a fool's paradise - j when they held and acted upon er- , . roneous views on vital questions, the er- . j roneous view in this caso being that ; j held by many to-day that as we were £ at neace with all the world there was 3 ; no call for young men to join the , ' volunteer force or sacrifice time in the ' i service. Mr James Allen hoped Mr McNab's reply would be noted all over the Doj minion, and that everyone would pay , attention to Mr McNab's definition of a . i "fool's paradise." He hoped the Gos vernment would take steps to deal with. , j the situation so described by the Minis- , i ter of Defence. [ I Mr Massey supported what Mr Allen had said. Volunteering had never ■ been at so low an ebb. The fact was | that the volunteers were not encour- ! atied as they ehonld be. (Hear, hear.) j It was obvious that we wanted something in lieu of 6r in addition to the present system. He thought all youths under 21 should be compelled to go into trainintr for two or ihree weeks in ivery year. The Government was shirking this question. Mr T. Y. Duncan agreed w : lh the 'act sDeaker. He was not sati.fie.l with the wav in which the wor?? .f the i Dsf-ncc Department was Ixjii>j> caived I j Mr McNab, in replying to the criti- 1 | cisms. said his reference to ft "fool's paradise" "had been misconstrued into a condemnation on his part of the volunteer system. That was not the o&se. He did not condemn it one iota. His : sole object had been to induce young 1 men to think of a question which wa* usually absent from their minds. The Premier said it was the constant rare of the Government to see that volunteers were well treated, and the Government had done a great deal for the volunteers, a great deal more than it trot credit for.