COMPULSORY SERVICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16253, 12 June 1916, Page 7

COMPULSORY SERVICE.

WOMEN'S LEAGUE OPPOSITION DEPUTATION TO MINISTER. THE MEASURE EXPLAINED. CLASS DISTINCTION ELIMINATED. [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.! Wellington, Saturday. An emphatic opposition to compulsory military service was voiced by a large deputation from the Womep's Anti-Con-scription League which waited on the Prime Minister this afternoon. The deputation was introduced by Mr. J. McCombs M.P. ' In replying, the Prime Minister, who was subjected to a good, deal of "heckling, said he did not look at the position from the same standpoint as the speakers, but he was prepared to admit that their objections were genuine and honest. I Misapprehension Cleared Up. | There seemed to be some misapprehension about the Bill, said Mr. Massey. It appeared to be the impression that the Bill would do away with the right to volunteer, but it did not. It preserved the right to volunteer, and the compulsory system would only be brought into force in the event of some great crisis arising. Roughly, the object of the Bill was this: The Dominion would be divided into districts, and the number of men of military age would be known to the authorities. Each district would be told the number of men it would be required to send to camp each month, and if a sufficient number volunteered, therp would be no need of compulsion. If a sufficient number did not volunteer, however, there would be a ballot to make up the deficiency. Mr. Massey said he wanted to remove the impression that directly the Bill came into force compulsion would be necessary. That was not the intention of the Bill. It had been said that the object of the Bill was to get at the workers, but in this country there was no class distinction. He went on to sty that the Bill made not the slightest distinction between the son of the millionaire and the son of the worker.

The Military Boards. The military boards would consist of the straightest men that could possibly be found.

A Member of the Deputation : What about having a woman on the board? Mr. Massey : I do not say there will not be women on the boards, but I am not committing the Cabinet in any way. There was not the slightest possibility of influence being brought to bear on ' the doctors, because they would be military doctors.

The Hon. J. T. Paul. M.L.C., asked if the Government would not take more of the wax profits, so that it could give more liberal allowances to the men in the firing-line. Mr: Massey : I will ask you to wait for the Financial Statement to come down. Then, if you are not satisfied, you can criticise the Government. Mr. Massey said he believed that our men were the best paid, the best fed, and the best treated in the world. Our duty was perfectly clear. It was to assist the Empire to win the war. " God help us if we passed under German rule," said Mr Massey. An Alleged Insult Replying to an interjection, Mr. Massey said that they must realise that civilisation was trembling in the balance at the present moment. He was surprised to hear that the method proposed by the Bill was an insult to the men at the front. The Bill was designed to ensure that sufficient reinforcements would be forwarded monthly to assist our men at the front. The worst insult that could be inflicted on them would be our failure to send the reinforcements, which military experts said were required. It was for the benefit of boys now fighting for us that those reinforcements should go regularly and promptly, and that they could be properly trained. He had received a lot of correspondence from men at the front, and in every case they referred to the men who had not volunteered. The Cost of Living. " Look at the cost of living," interjected a member of the deputation. " I cannot deal with that now," said Mr Massey. " During the war period the cost of living must go up, and there is no power on God's earth that can keep it down. We have increased the wages of men in our employment by several hundreds of thousands of pounds per annum. Most of the large employers have done the same thing, and the Arbitration Court has given an increase. It is no use suggesting to the Government that it can loeep down the price of commodities, because it cannot keep them down below the cost of production. What it can do is to prevent a man making undue profits, and we have done it. I have 'here a list of the cost of necessaries of life in Australia and in New Zealand, and in nearly every case the price is lower in New Zealand than in Australia. You cannot keep the prices below the cost of production." A Question of Choice. Mr. Massey concluded : " You have to choose between British rule and German rule. That is the whole thing. Are you going to have German rule lam sure you will not. I am sure you are just as patriotic as other people." A Member of the Deputation : Not your patriotism. Mr. Massey: I belong to one variety and you belong? to another, but there is a question which we all have to consider, and it is the one which the people of the Empire are called upon to consider. You do not suggest that New Zealand should not do as much in proportion to her population as the other parts of the Empire have done? We must win the war. Life would not be worth living if we lost.