THE NATIONAL RESERVE.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XX, Issue 5258, 18 October 1915, Page 4

THE NATIONAL RESERVE.

DAN N K YIRK E EX PERI KN CE. I lie ranks ot tin' Dannevirke .National Reserve have been swayed backward and forward by patriotic *iniff."h*'- says tlie Dannevirke Evening News. The eomjwiny reached its maximum strength i mim'd ia-fely after the \ isit ot Colonel Porter, hut since then there has l>een a decline, and the last *li ill was somewhat heartlessly earried out. I here is a feeling of dissati.sfnetion in the ranks, mainly due to tho laet that conscientious men who have at tend'd every drill find themselves practically in the stage they were in 12 months ago. A correspondent in <>nr issue lays the blame for slip-shod diil l on the l<K'al offieers. but that is hardly lair. The men arc also to blame for intermittent attendance, and htH'ausc they have never set themselves seriously to master the rudiments of military training. Me are afraid, however, that ns far as drill is concerned. the National Deserve will never make much progress with-I out start i list rut eors. It requires t In' I martinet methods of tile professional soldier to stiffen up the ranks. Considerable credit must la' given to tin' 1 local company officers for the time lairsthey have ungrudgingly given to affairs ot the National Deserve. Ther<f is not a patriotic movement in town in whit'h these officers in one wav or another have not been called on tn

assist. The organisation of send-offs to the Rein foremen ts is in itself work tlint lias done the ha.rd-woi'king squad ot the National Reserve infinit" credit This st imuliit ing work the Reserve cannot let drop, but if the Dnnnovirke company is to be worth anything as a military uni' ■drill must l*e taken more .seriously. After one year of war every nciti in the Reserve should know Ids plats' and he should ako realise that one ot the first. « -s'ntinls of a good ■ soldiers is not, tn erit'fise his edict's. I Tho one thing that will hold the Nat’e'mil Reserve together is a realisation tint citizens do not want tn demean then' patriotism b\ nhiying at heing- ftlhlie'N, hut tt> seriously ge.f doW n to business.