THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1913. A POLICY WANTING.

Colonist, Volume LV, Issue 13643, 7 February 1913, Page 4

THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1913. A POLICY WANTING.

Iho Minister of > Defence has evidently stolen a march on his colleagues' in his reference an an interview, in London to New Zealand's desire to place an expeditionary force of 8000 men at the disposal of the Mother Country for service abroad. - Mr. Massey has pointed out that what Mr. Alien . said was ' merely that ho '"hoped that in time of danger New Zealand would furnish a contingent or contingents as was done on the occasion of tho South African war, when about this number of volunteer troops was 'despatched from New Zealand to the assistance of the Mother Country." If that is what Mr. Allen meant it is not indicated by the cabled summary of his remarks. "New .Zealand,", he is reported to have said, "hoped to place an expeditionary force- of 8000 men at the disposal of the Mother Country for service in any part of the Empire." The "Pali Mall Gazette" accepts the statement as a definite offer, aJid speaks of it as another instance of New Zealand's patriotism, and adds ?that if the oth-e**1 Dominions were to organise similarly an army would be provided -rend/ for servJco almost equalling tho Motherland's expeditionary force, .tfntil the full text of Mr. Allen'.?, statement reaches the Dominion th?; matter cannot of course be profitably discussed. Itj may be assumed,..iibwever; that he made it clear that';the proposed expeditionary forco^ould not .be established under th* Defence Act, and that the compulsory provisions of that Act could not lx> applied to,it.-.' The fundamental -i<fea of the Defence Act is that the yot^h of the country-shall-be- trained and £eted to assist in.;the defence of the country, and it is (..expressly provided t£at they-shalUnpt- bo called up.on-for service beyond;tho Dominion. -As-'has-; been pointed out by Sir Joseph Ward and others, any such force'as that "proposed by Mr.' Allen must be established on a purely voluntary basis, as were the contingents despatched from the Dominion to co-operate with the Imperial troops in the South African war. Au unfortunate effect of the Defence Minister's statement is that it will be seized upon by the opponents of compulsory training for domestic defence as an illustration of the direction the development of that system will be expected to take. That the original idea underlying the Defence Act will by departed from in the way of widening the sphere of compulsory service there is of course no probability at all. New Zealand has already proved that she has no lack of patriotic sons ready and eager to fight for tho Empire in time of need, and if occasion unfortunately arises in the future when tho assistance of troops from this and the other Dcmmkma is: required in any part of the' world, it will btj as willingly volunteered. But that is not a form of service which can ever affect in any way those of anti-militsi.r-isb views, who as fqr as service abroad is concerned, will bcjfree'to follow their own inclinations. iThe evident surprise of Mr. Allen's colleagues at his statement is only another indication of

tho lacifc of a- definite policy"on the part ot the Government in defence matters, which has been remarked upon in connection with the studied silence of the Ministry in connection with the Dominion's naval intentions. '