THEN AND NOW

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23830, 4 December 1940, Page 8

THEN AND NOW

Publication to-day of the first ballot of men required for overseas service offers a reminder that conscription has been resorted to at an earlier stage in this war than in the last. The first ballot then took place in November, 1916, two years and three months after the outbreak of war. Ballots for Territorials were, of course, unnecessary owing to the continued operation of compulsory military training. The Territorial establishment was maintained throughout the war at an average strength of 27,000 men, being regularly fed from the senior cadet force, whose numbers were kept up to 26,000. Compulsory military training had been in force for three years prior to August, 1914, so that the N.Z.E.F. began with a solid backing of partially trained men. Actually one in three of the expeditionary force was provided by the Territorials, or some 39,400 in all. At the outbreak of the present war, no such flying start was possible.

Compulsory military training had been suspended for eight years and an attempt was being made to raise the Territorial establishment from 9000 to 16,000 men by voluntary enlistment. These figures should be compared with the 26,000 Territorials training in 1914, when. New Zealand's population was only twothirds that of 1930. In 1914-38, out of an eligible population of under •250,000. a total of 124,211 were called to serve with the N.Z.E.F. Of these 91.941—three out of four — were volunteers and 32.270 were called by ballot. The record can be looked back on with pride, but so can that of 1939-40. when over 60.000 men volunteered for overseas service in less than 11 months. The chief difference between then and now is that to-day's expeditionary force cannot draw on the large partially trained cadres provided in 1914 by the compulsory training scheme. The lesson is that never again in peacetime should the defence system be allowed to fall into virtual desuetude.