MILITARY SERVICE AGE

Otago Witness, Issue 3309, 15 August 1917, Page 39

MILITARY SERVICE AGE

SUGGESTED CALLING UP OF BOYS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, August 8. It has been freely rumoured in the lobbies lately that the Government has a Bill on the stocks which provides that the military age for active service abroad shall bo reduced from 20 to 19, or even 18 years of age. This afternoon I asked Sir James Allen (Minister of Defence) if the rumour was correct, but the Minister refused to make any statement. In the House to-day Mr M''Combs asked tho Minister whether it was a fact that the Government, in order to try to avoid tho cost of sending married men to tho front, intended to postpone the calling up of the Second Division by calling up boys of 18 or 19 years of age. " Tho honourable member will receive all tho information when the Bill comes before the House," replied Sir James Allen. The Prime Minister informed me this afternoon that a Bill was being prepared embodying various amendments to the Military Service Act, but he stated that it had not yet been dealt with by Cabinet, and he refused to state whether there was any provision relating to the lowering of the military age limit. August 9. It may now be predicted with some assurance that the Government will, in its amendment to tho Military Service Act, to come down this session, ask the House to agree to the reduction of the minimum military ago for service abroad from 20 to 19 years. If the Government does make this proposal it is certain to meet with a mixed reception from the House. When the Military Service Act was before Parliament last year such a clause would assuredly have been rejected, but it is also true that some member's are so unwilling to send Second Division men into the fight that they may now bo prepared to accept the age reduction, so as to postpone tho time of calling up the married men. No exact information is available as to the number of youths there are in the country between 19 and 20 years of age, but it is estimated that the number is about 9000. There will be amongst these youths a high proportion of physically fit, and it may be that a sufficient number may be drawn from them to complete three reinforcement drafts of 1920 men each if this proposal should be adopted. It is now assumed, therefore, that the calling up of the Second Division will be postponed until April or May of next year, and their departure from New Zealand until three or four months later. MINISTERS RETICENT. Ministers are very reticent regarding thcintentions of the Government, and decline to make any statement. The Minister of Defence, acting on the recommendation of his military advisers, has asked the Cabinet to sanction the insertion of a clause providing for a reduction of the age limit to 19 in the Bill which is to be introduced dealing with various phases of the recruiting problem. The matter has been informally discussed by Ministers, but no decision has yet been reached The' military authorities point out that in Britain, Canada, and Australia youths of 18 are sent into camp, and express the opinion that Now Zealand might with advantage fix the age at 19. They hold that young men of 19 would prove more useful at the front than the majority of tho men who form the Second Division. It is also pointed out that a youth who went into camp on his nineteenth birthday would bo well on to 20 before ho reached the firing line. The Prime Minister is not prepared to make any public announcement just now. Ho says that no Minister can say what the Government will do until tho Cabinet has officially declared its mind. He asserts that the proposal to reduce the age limit to 19 has not yet been formally approved by Ministers in Cabinet. The possibility of a reduction to 18 has been mentioned, but Mr Massey states most positively 'that there is no probability -whatever of such a course being adopted.

The opposition to the calling up of 19-year-old lads which is being shown throughout the dominion must be of interest to the Government. It has enabled Ministers to feel the pulse of the people, and may cause them to reconsider the whole matter. Whatever preliminary steps may- have been taken can be retraced, but whether they will be retraced is quite another matter. The conviction persists in well-informed quarters that when the Bill makes its appearance a reduction of the age limit to 19, though with modifications and safeguards, will be provided for.

STORM OF INDIGNANT PROTESTS. The suggested lowering of the age below 20 years has evoked a storm of protests throughout the Dominion. In Duncdin a public meeting was held on Monday evening, presided over by the. Mayor (Mr J. J. Clark), when a resolution was passed protesting against the idea. The speakers were:—The jacvs. S. G. Griffith and Clarence Eaton, Messrs W. J. Morrell (rector Bovs' High School). E. C. Reynolds. W. R. Brugh, 11. 11. S. White, Mazengarb, and Sheen. The National Welfare Association and the Second Division League were promptly in the field with protests, and telegraphed to local members of Parliament, to strenuously oppose the proposal, as the men of the Second Division were not prepared to remain behind and send boys to fight for them. Protests have also been made by the United Christian Council, the Recruiting Committee. High School Old Boys' Association, Women's National Reserve. Amalgamated Siociety of Railway Servants. Engineers' Union of Employers, and other bodies. It was freely alleged at some i.f the meetings that the Government was shirking its obligation to make adequate provision for the dependents of married men by proposing to send boys. Protesting resolutions have been passed by the executive of the Southland Branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, by Tuapokn farmers, and by .various public bodies throughout the Dominion.