DEFENCE, NOT DEFIANCE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 9, 7 January 1913, Page 6

DEFENCE, NOT DEFIANCE.

FACE TO FACE. COMMANDANT MEETS FARMERS Major-General J. A. Godley, Com-, mauclau't of the Forces, arrived in; Stratford last night, and this morix-j ing lie was present at the Borongn, Council Chambers and discussed tte-j fence matters generally with local far-; mers and citizens. lliere was am attendance of about twenty, including Mr J. B. Hine, M.P., and the Mayor (Mr W. P. Kirkwood). Raasan For The Meeting. Mr J. B. Hine, M.P., commented on the email attendance, but remarked that this must be taken as a_ sign that the farmers were well satisfied! with the present arrangements. He thought it was due to General Got.ley that he should say how the meeting came to be called. It arose in this way: A few farmers interviewer, him (the speaker) a little while agothey were not realy complaining at) anything, but they wished to know if the General could see his way to give a' fortnightly camp, instead of continuous weekly or iortnightly parades. This would suit some farmersj better, Especially in the back dis-i tricts. He had communicated with tho authorities anti Colonel Alien! had informed him that General God-j ley would he visiting Taranaki, ant,, would be very pleased to meet any-j one, in order that the scheme might foe discussed, and something, perhaps, devised whereby it could be more easily wo/ked in. the interests ol the farmers. He hoped that those present would lay bare all the grievances,! if they had any, so that the Generali might know exactly their desires, and; noJloubb if their wishes were fea«Nei and would not detract from tho ofnciency of the Territorials they would be given effect to. (Applause.) No Speechifying. The proceedings which followed were quite informal, General Godley wisin' ing it understood that he had not; come to make a speech. At the: same time, during the meeting, the General made some very interesting remarks, and certainly supplied the! material for an address, worthy ol the term of “speech.” Replying to Mr Hine, General GodIcy said it was difficult lor him to] find out how the scluhne effected the farmers. The more they could toll him of their difficulties tho better he would be pleased, and the more chances it would give him of trying to meet those difficulties.

Mr J. Knowles (Timid) explained! that in his district there was really only one man whom one could term a hired labourer, and who might possibly be available to assist on a farm should he .be required. As far as the fortnightly parados were concerned, his son could manage them very well, but on one or two occasions Ins son had attended parade and no instructor had turned up. This had been the case a few days ago. As it happened, tho day was wot, and the boy was not really urgently needed on that farm. Had it been fine, however, the drill would have been distinctly inconvenient, as the hay was out, and the boy could not have attended. , General Godley: From our point of view it would not have been a good day for drill. The drill hall is the place we like to get them out of. The hall is alright for mechanical drill, but it is the more advanced work outside in the field that is Valuable. I want to - make it quite clear to you that wet days are no moro use to us than they are to you.

Mr Knowles said he quite understood this point, but thought there should be some means of knowing whether the instructor was going to attend or not. In the case lie had mentioned, no officer at all, or anybody competent to take the parade, had been present. Questions were asked of the staff officers present, and Captain Stevens stated that the funerary bad been made out, and there certainly should have been an officer piesent. Woefully Understaffed.

General Godley remarked that there was one thing he might mention. They , certainly were woefully understaffed. The Instructors were, as

they knew, # a!l working as hard as they could, and they were always on the"move. The itinerary was worked out for them, but the numbers did not permit of their always being present at the parades. But there should be somebody there—a Territorial officer or somebody competent to take charge. “Do 1 ‘understand there was nobody there at all! J ” he concluded.

Mr Knowles: Yes, that is so. General Godley: Well, when anything of that kind occurs just drop; a line to Captain Stevens, Hawcra. It’s his business to put that right. He is the man who has to put those things right. Mr Knowles: I will bear that in mind.

Mr Knowles then proceeded to touch] on. another matter. He explained! that one of his sons would shortly lie leaving him to get married, and that would leave him with only one son. For this son he was keeping on the farm. When his son attended parades he would lose a certain] amount of work, hut he was quite! agreeable to that loss of work. But then his son had to go to camp. As he had said Before, there was only one day labourer in the district, and then that man’s services might not always be available. ’I his meant that "he was left alone on the farm, with only the women folk, and a large herd of'cows to manage. Supposing something should happen to him, what could ho do? General Godley: You’ve got your neighbours though. Mr Knowles: My neighbours have got cows to milk, too. The questioner went on to say that his hoy was keen on the scheme, and lie (Mr Knowles) was not against it. because he thought it would he good for the hoy. But he (the speaker) had to keep the farm on, as he did not wish to throw the hoy “on his beam ends.” Tt was hard. If he (the speaker) was ten years younger it would make all the difference. General Godley stated in reply that if the lad was the speaker’s sole help, if the boy was the only person left, and if it was absolutely impossible for the rows to he milked if the youth attended, he need not do so. Of course, when he said that, he trusted absolutely to the farmers. Their instructions to the officers wore that these cases should lie taken on their merits. Where the attendance of a lad at camp meant bringing the work of a farm to a standstill, then that man must he .given leave from scamp. What The Camp Means. “From our point of view it is had for ns,” said General Godley. “It means that the boy does not get a week’s training in the year, and misses what is really the goodness of the scheme. Brills are all very well. The real good of the scheme, and what is absolutely necessary for the

defence of the country, lies in the organisation ol larger bodies of men in camp, and in tnoir doing the wore: in camp and in the field, which would have to be done should the time come —and wo hope it will not coxae—when wo have to tight. Mechanical drill in the hall, learning how to handle a rifle, learning how to stand upright, is very excellent for training, but in those days of modern warfare it docs not make a soldier. V e cannot make the defence force any good unless we assemble the men in large bodies, and have them properly organised in me manner in which wo would have them organised in toe actual field of battle. I! your boy cannot go to camp, yhcre he" gets the real training, tne modern training—where he xornis the little unit of the big organisation—the real good of Jus training is lost for the year/’ General Godley paused for a moment, and asked what regiment the hoy was in, and received the reply, “The' Taranalti Rifles.” General Godley: IVell, lie’s in ■ a good regiment; ho could not be in a better regiment than the old Taranaki Rifles. , The speaker then touched upon what might ho termed the personal loss of the Territorial in not attending camp, and said: “He loses toxich with his comrades, he loses touch with his section- ho loses that esprit-de-corps which comes from the life m camp; he doesn’t get to know bis officers, and Ids officers do not get to know him. The whole thing is dislocated by one man not attending Godley continued that - tin; was their rule, and he thought that it was only a fair tiling, that in ease of absolute hardship, where tho farm would bo brought to a standstill, leave of absence should bo given, and the General concluded: “We trust absolutely to you, not to ask unless it is a real case.” Mr Knowles: Your trust will not be betrayed, General. Further Points.

Mr W. N. Stevenson (Tariki) wished to point out that a hardship, came on the farmers in this way: His son was not of sufficient age to attend drill, hut he employed a boy who was in the Territorials. He was only too willing to let that youth go to drill. Farmers generally, lie thought, recognised the importance of the scheme, and were willing to make any sacrifice to further it. He liked to o-et the hoy away to diill, looking something like a soldier, but the general would understand bow be Id! when the boy came home and announced that he' bad spent the morning waiting for a drill instructs wno did not turn up. Another point: lie was only too willing for his boy to go to drill when he was required ; it would make a man of him. Hut win should bis boy be going to drill when his neighbour’s boy was not i Jho last named boy was a “brave laddie, ' and was quite capable of carrying arms, but he wanted to know why that boy was exempted. lh<v spcakci wanted'no “angling” ; m Ins opinion it was high time such pish veiv “gaffed.” , General, Godley answered the question ajb some length. To begin amtn, lie said, there were no exemptions—except those who were medically un fit. Before lie entered into the details, however, he might say,they goa good many complaints similar to this one. And very often, too, when they came to investigate, they found that the hoy was not between ages order which he was liable for trailing. The hov might look over eighteen but in reality might ho merely a big strapping hoy of seventeen. Then again, he might have been over twenty-one when the Act came into force.' Again, the General showed that it might be quite possible that the boy was going to put m Ins drills in a lump after the annual camp, though be did not say that this va-. * °Askcd if there was any particular reason win- the hoy m question dm not go to drill, the farmer, amidst general laughter, supplied one. Me (the farmer) did not believe u toj one moment, but it had been sain that the boy did not go to drill because, in consideration of his latnei allowing the authorities to use par. of hie land for a rifle range the officers had winked their eyes to the attendance of the boy at drills. General Godlev then got hack again to the subject be first mentioned There were really no exemptions at all. In the first place they took those who were most physically u. for the defence forces. -They ooulil only take, as those present knew, a force of 30,000. Of course, there were a great many more than 3U,UUt men available. Our country, however, was determined that we shook, have a universal system, so they took the most physically fit in the service, until they had 30,000 Territorials. Then the less physically fit—those who wore not selected for the Territorials—were formed into rifle clubs. The last scheme was, however, not yet +n 11 x operative,, as it bad only come into force last session. He might sa> that the hov mentioned by the farmer came under this last-mentioned category. There was another alternative; that the boy was not drilling because he was shirking it. I,K 'General said he thought all those present would admit that the ‘ shirkors” had been given “enough rope. Instructions had been given to prosecute in all cases. Here, again, it was a big job for the Department, with the smallness of their sta.i. i•< did not believe jt was half realised How big a job it was. The Country’s intention.

Speaking of the scheme generally, the General said the drills were having a good effect, and it was obvious that the country intended to stick to compulsory military training. Territorials had put in seven days in camp—nine days altogether, if they counted m the two days, spent in getting to the camp and leaving. That, of course, was a very small amount oi Training; it was the absolute minimum that ho would recommend. But, in addition to that, they had arranged for the camp to be open for eleven days in order that 1 1 oys, sue li a--those who had been described, and who lived far in the haekhlocks. might if they wished lump their drills into the four extra days. 1 hat tiaimng would he practically sufficient, and probably nothing would he- said it no other drills were attended J n the discussion that followed it was mentioned by the General tnat the next annual camp for the 1 1 ID Regiment would be held at Ormgi. near Dannevirke. Further details of the discussion, which terminated in a hearty vote o thanks to General Godley, will bo published in to-morrow’s issue.