THE UNIFORM COUNTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23687, 20 December 1938, Page 10

THE UNIFORM COUNTS

There must be few who would refuse to admit the psychological effect of the skirl of the pipes and the swing of the kilts. The proposal to include in the defence establishment of the Dominion a regiment wearing the Highland uniform may provoke a few facetious comments, but it is founded on sound practical reasoning. If young men are to come forward and undergo military training it is important that the means of encouraging them to do so should not be neglected. As a stimulus in the desired direction the uniform certainly counts, as has always been recognised. Its appeal may be to vanity, but it is necessary that the soldier should cut a good figure, and it is natural that he should desire to do so. The khaki uniform which has seen so much service is less attractive, most people will agree, than the blue which has been latterly introduced. The addition of another variation in territorial dress in New Zealand, in the line of a famous British Army tradition and also in that of volunteers as they are remembered in Otago, in the shape of the Highland uniform, is calculated to please the public and to be helpful to recruiting. The Scottish Societies may have been moved' mainly by considerations of sentiment in the representations made by them to the Defence authorities on this subject, but the Government, it appears from the statement made on the subject by the Minister of Defence, has been able to recognise the validity of their argument and to appreciate the value of a certain appeal to the spectacular for increasing the attractiveness of membership of the defence forces under the voluntary system. As the Minister has suggested, a company of kilted territorials headed by a pipe band should be an acquisition to any of the cities. The swing of a Highland regiment tin the march is more or less irresistible. The proposal will be popular in Otago, and it may be anticipated that, if effect is given to it, there will in the other centres also 'be very little difficulty in making up the full strength of the companies that would be' equipped with the distinctive Highland uniform.