ONLY VOLUNTARY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13092, 4 June 1913, Page 7

ONLY VOLUNTARY.

MR ALLEN'S EXPLANATION

(Per Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, last night. Of all the statements accredited to the Hon. Jas. Allen while he has been abroad none has given rise to so much discussion and comment m New Zealand as the utterances labelled "Expeditionary forces."

"They have been talking a lot of rubbish about this expeditionary force," said the Minister to-day. "All I proposed was the need of being ready with war material, equipment, and transport arrangements for sending an expeditionary force if the time ever came when such a force were needed, but so far as the personnel of such force is concerned, I have always said absolutely and unmistakably that such a force must be entirely voluntary. There is nothing new about the expeditionary force idea. I talked about it myself before I left for Home, and, m fact, it has been talked about for at least two or three years. All it means is that we do not want to be caught m the unprepared state m which we wore caught List time — on the occasion of the Boer war — when New Zealand was so ready to respond to the appeal of our brothers oversea. When that appeal came we had plenty of men eager to go, but nothing was arranged m the matter of equipment and transport. There was no knowledge of what the requirements would be for horse artillery or foot — m fact there was no sort of organisation beforehand to meet all the necessities of such a- situation. If a- call comes at a moment's notice it is of little value to have men if you have not got all the necessary details arranged, details so necessary for effective operation at a moment's notice. Can anyone object to such an obviously sensible proposition? There was never any question about the New Zealand expeditionary force being other than voluntary."