COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2879, 19 May 1909, Page 31

COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING.

UPROARIOUS MEETING INT WELLINGTON. .SOCIALISTS AND LOYALISTS IN CONFLICT. (Feoh Otjb Own Cobbespokdent.) WELLINGTON, May 13. Ihe meeting in the xown Hall to-night to pass a resolution advocating compulsory mihtary training developed into a scene of absolute uproar, and for the last hour pandemonium reigned. The Socialists and the lower Labour class had attempted to pack the meeting, and were effective with the amount of noise they were able to make while those in favour of compulsory training were speaking. Mr il'Nab got a fair blearing, and made some good points ; but Mr Atkinson, who followed, seemed to rub the audience up the wrong way. . The Socialists ■would not listen to him, and yelled and hooted so that his voice was absolutely drowned. When he resumed has .-seat Mr -Hogg, one of the leaders of the Socialist party, mounted tlie platform and attempted to get a hearing. The yoxing* -men on the other side, however, retali•ated by giving him a worse time than I the -Socialists had given Mr Atkinson. For half an hour Sir Hogg stood his ground, but scarcely a word of his utterances could be heard, and a. large -part of the audience yelled in chorus "Get your -hair cut !" " Sit down, Hogg ! iiogg ! Hogg ! " The Socialists sang "We'll Keep the Red .Flag Elying," but the loyalists replied and drowned their voi«te with " Rule, Britannia " and " Boys of the bulldog breed." The meeting | broke ug in absolute disorder..

Then someone struck up " God, save the King," and. amidst intense excitement, the .National Anthem was suixg with a patriotic fervour seldom heard even in patriotic jS'ew Zealand. A Socialist called for '" Cheers for the revolution," which were lustily given by the brazen-voiced minority, but counter-cheera and another verse of "Rale, Britannia' drowned the Socialistic cheers. Ihe meetiug was the rowdiest I have seen iv New Zealand for a period of some 30 years. The action of the Socialists has had the effect of stimulating those in favour of compulsory training, and will do more good than harm, even though the noisy band prevented the putting of the resolution.

Mr R. C. Kirk moved the following resolution :— " Recognising thit, (1) despite the enthusiasm and self-sacrifice displayed by the officers and men of the Volunteer Force of New Zealand and the large sums of public money annually devoted to the purpose, the inadequacy of our defence is a source of danger to ourselves and of weakness to the Empire, and that (2) there is no reasonable nope of any permanently satisfactory result under " existing conditions, this meeting considers that a system of universal military training should be established forthwith in order to qualify our young men ior the defence of New Zealand in trine of need." The resolution was. of course, not put.