COMPULSORY SERVICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16121, 8 January 1916, Page 6

COMPULSORY SERVICE.

The House of Commons division on the first reading of the Bill making military service compulsory for single men would appear to be deci- , sive. Whatever the Lords may say the Commons have given no uncer- ! tain vote. There are G7O members in the House, but many of those on j active service may have been unable to attend, and, in any case, the 1 vote is a very heavy one such as could only be expected on a great occasion. With 403 votes recorded jin favour of the Bill, and only 105 against, it would not be surprising if considerable numbers of the men at whom compulsion is aimed take the step which Mr. Asquith indicated when he expressed the hope that the legislation would yet be rendered a dead letter. When it is noted that 48 of the opponents were Nationalists, it will be seen that the opposition of members representing those parts of the Kingdom to which the Bill applies is inconsiderable- The hostile decision of the Trades Union Congress may cause some friction. ' It has already resulted in three Labour members— Mr. Arthur Henderson, President of the Board of Trade, Mr- Brace, Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Treasury, and Mr. Roberts, one of the Lords Commissioner of the Treasury—resigning their Ministerial positions- Apart from this, however, the indications are that the great majority of the British people are united in their determination that the nation's full strength shall be put into the war and in their refusal to maintain the voluntary system merely to enable a few to shelter behind it.