MILITARY TRAINING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20366, 21 September 1929, Page 14

MILITARY TRAINING.

Sir, —In Thursday's Herald Mr. R. JL Marryatt joined issue on several points with two Auckland clergymen regarding the necessity for, and some of the evils connected with, military training. I am concerned only with Mr. Marryatt's last statement—not that the other points ha mentioned _are trifling and can be ignored. But it seems to me that .far too, many people, even at this late day, come a cropper just where Mr. Marryatt does. He says: "Great Britain was able, on the outbreak of war, to put 80,000 men in the field. Had she been able to assure Germany, in no equivocal terms, that there would have been 800,000, similarly trained and equipped, ready for service if < war started, I belieye with many more authoritative opinions than mine that there would have been'no war." As I see it. the proper ending to Mr. Marryatt's letter ought to be, "There would have been no war in 1914." Everyone admits that. It is as plain as the nose on one's face. But I do not admit for a single' moment that war would have been prevented; it woilld have been postponed—that is all. Germany would have bided her time. 'When that fateful time arrived—as it was bound to do—the world would have seen a far more "hellish" conflict. At best, military preparedness can only postpone the evil day; it certainly does not prevent it. SANIIf*