THE RECRUITING STATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16169, 4 March 1916, Page 4

THE RECRUITING STATION.

' ' Sir,—ln reading the description of the J humble wooden building cow being erected at tho foot of Victoria"Street—a name,' surely, of happy omen—l 'was struck by 'J the melancholy fact that no ceremony I of stone-laying or dedication has marked tho commencement of the work. I sug- ® gest that it is not too late for this omission- to be made good. The Prime Minister and the Mayor might well cooperate in consecrating, the foundations of what is veritably a temple of liberty. To a l&ver of freedom the construction of this shrine marks the beginning of a new era. True, it is but an insignificant thing e materially—a mere-wooden, perhaps ternIs porary, shell—and it may be that the £ mural decorations' which are to . mask its ■t architectural weaknesses, will not ranjc 3 with "tlie highest' 'productions of art <vr literature. But the. building is a visible r tribute to the cause of freedom, and is a sign that the flame of liberty still burns, A'or will the spirit which has prompted its construction bo confined and crushed, for long by barbarous fetishes and political ® dogmas. The ardent' imagination cannot & fail to catch a glimpse'of the dawn of a ;; purer, freer day, and it ig a matter for II pride that'tho spirit has manifested itself not in" small things, but in great ; not ' in trivial obligations, "but in regard to the highest • service-which -the Commonwealth has the right to demand from its citizen?. Q I venture to hope that the sentiment : which, when the fate. of our Empirenay, of liberty itself—is trembling in the j balance, insists that our army shall be recruited by banner aud poster and ap'j peals in the public street; and not by any brutal system based upon low and _ un--11 imaginative"* common sense, will manifest I itself yet in other departments of national life, and that we shall soon pass into that • delectable state when coercion is unneceai sary and unknown. I look forward to the . time when not only will the "nation's duty in regard to the provision of air- ! ships bo discharged by canvassing aud j voluntary subscriptions, but when we slia.ll lirivo collecting boxes at every street corner to enable tho benevolent to provide the salaries of our policemen, magistrates and Judge's; when booths will be provided e for the display of posters and the outpour- [; i irigs of civic eloquence, urging the Pood I citizen to cay his income tax'; and when j , appeals will be made to the public-spirited to servo without compulsion upon common •. juries. The justice, tho dignity, and the effectiveness of voluntary service will, in time, triumph over the ignorance of those who trust" rather to coercion than to the patriotism and honour and public smrit of'tho people. Britannicus. P.S.—Upon reflection I think my • imagination may have carried me too far, 5 because When the voluntary system is ap- , plied to all national services our polices men, magistrates, and Judees > will no • lonsrcr be'required, and common juries will bo the subject* merely of antiquarian reSearch.