The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1913. DEFENCE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 32, 6 February 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1913. DEFENCE.

The South African Union Defence Act came into force on January Ist of this year and every public hoarding in the towns and hamlets of South Africa announced at the end of December that registration would comnpence on January 2nd. The terms of- the new Act provided that every citizen of European descent within the Union, except such as are specially excepted, who in 1913 will attain the age of 17, 18, 19, 20, or 21 years must register himself during the month of January, 1913, in manner as follows: (1) He must, appear personally between January 2nd, 1913, and Wednesday, January 15th, 1913 (both' days inclusive) at a Magistrate’s office, police station, or police post, or before a field cornet, except in the Province of Natal, and fill in a registration form. (2) When he has filled in the registration form a citizen will be given a written acknowledgment of his having registered himself, and in due course his certificate of registration will bo posted to Ins address. The penalty for failure to register, or for refusing to give correct information with regard to a citizen registering under the Defence Act, or for failing to appear personally before the registering officer when called upon to do so, is a fine of £25, or three months’ imprisonment. From the above it appears that the South African Government recognises the necessity of raising a citizen army and has resolved that no half measures shall be taken. In all parts of the Empire the need of some such scheme for pure defence is now recognised by the great majority, and is cheerfully accepted in most quarters. That there will always be opposition to every measure of a national character, however good and wise it may be, wo must regretfully recognise, but the ridiculous and often hysterical outbursts in which little knots of misguided people indulge, have never had any real weight in New Zealand and grow more feeble as time passes. Presently we shall be quite unanimous that to be • prepared to defend our homos is a good thing and a national duty.