UNIVERSAL SERVICE

New Zealand Times, Volume XL, Issue 9173, 13 October 1915, Page 3

UNIVERSAL SERVICE

EVERYONE MUST HELP LABOUR IN RELATION TO THE GREAT WAR. The provision of men for the firing line was dealt with hy several speakers at the Tramway Union’s farewell “social,” tendered to a number ot members joining the forces here. Mr D. McLaren said ho hoped every Labour organisation in New Zealand would do its level best, as the tramway men here had done. Tho great and glorious example that had just been set by the British Labour Party was one that they should bo proud to follow and to emulate. Ho had been very much impressed with one pronouncement of the British Trades Union Federation, that: “So long as the Power that crushed Belgium in tho mire, and has plunged the greatest part of Europe into the misery, degradation, and horror of warfare, remains unbeaten there can be , no peace 1” That statement was direct and plain. There could be no peace, and there should bo no peace until we had crushed the Power that had, first of all, demoralised its own people with the maddest kind of false teaching, 'and was now seeking to demoralise the whole civilised world, and put in practice doctrines that, if they were to succeed, would put the world back centuries. The Dominion wanted a bold lead, and he believed ho would be echoing the feelings of the country if ho said to Ministers: “Be bold.” They had to get practically universal service in some form or other. That meant that anyone fit for any duty to assist the country must obey the call, whether it meant using a rifle or doing other work. The only argument that would stand tho test of time against conscription was that it was not necessary, that everybody was serving. He could not help thinking that the eloquence of Parliamentarians would be of greater service on the platform round the country than debating small matters in the House. NO NEED FOR CONSCRIPTION. The Defence Minister, tho Hon. J. Allen, thanked Mr McLaren for the way in which he had spoken of universal service, and congratulated tho Tramway Union bn what its members had done. He took a'broad view of universal service: ho had no belief in conscription for one moment, but if New Zealand failed in the voluntary scheme then he did not hesitate to say conscription must come. He was firmly of opinion that the country and the people of the country knew their duty and would respond to the ball, and there would bo no need to introduce conscription in any form. There wor* plenty of men waiting to go when their time came. They could register and say when they wished to he called up. •That would serve the Defence Depart-, ment’s purpose. Some people said that men should he sent into camp at once, but his staff advised him, and .he firmly believed, that tho only way ,in which they could train men as efficiently as they had done was to send them into camp at fixed times. Apart from tho service at the, front there was the work to be done in transport and production by those who stayed at home, a service almost equal to that given by those who had the privilege of going to the front. No man who could go, .but who shirked his responsibility at the present time, could maintain his self-respect in the years to come. If they were to fulfil the solemn pledge they had given to their mates who had gone the ymust fill all the gaps. WHOLE-HEARTED SUPPORT.

Mr E. J.'Carey said that tho duty of Labour was to give whole-hearted support to the war and . everything the British nation stood for. If they wished to avoid German military domination, and to retain the freedom of speech which they had under the British Constitution, they would do so. In the name of Labour, he said, they honoured the King, they were , proud of the British traditions and of the chivalry of the past, proud of men who were fighting their battles, and gloried in their bravery. But there was one man they were ' not, , promt of—the man who wrote in the paper' professing to be a Labour paper, belittling the work, not only of the Army and Navy, but of his own comrades. The man who did so at such a time was a traitor to his country and a traitor to trades unionism. '