THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 1915. NATIONAL SERVICE.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13792, 12 June 1915, Page 4

THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 1915. NATIONAL SERVICE.

The tenor of the discussion of national service '.which; has been proceeding at Hcme for some time, promises that if the Government deem it necessary to bring down a comprehensive scheme the innovation will be accepted with little serious dissent. Of the leading newspapers which.have consistently opposed universal service, and represented the system with which we are familiar in New Zealand as conscription in its European form, only the "Daily Chronicle" apparently maintains an attitude of unqualified hostility in face of the needs of the hour. The ' 'Westminster Gazette supports the scheme for a national register of the population, which advocates of conscription consider is the first step towards national service. No paper has been more strongly opposed to any form of compulsory service than the "Manchester Guardian," or did more to misrepresent the nature and operation of the'defence systems of Australasia. It still contends by some singular-pro-cess of reasoning that a system which knows no distinction and treats everyone equally is "undemocratic" aud would "re-create England on the Prussian model" ; but it is a significant indication of the change the war has produced in the point of view of the school of thought of which the "Guardian" is one of the leading organs, to find it declai'ing that "no general objection can1 hold against a proved necessity, and the moment it is shown that without compulsion we cannot raise the armies necessary to win compulsion must be resorted to." No necessity for national service on that score has yet presented itself, unless the inevitable inequality of the voluntary system may be so regarded. In his Manchester speech Mr. Lloyd George said that the numbers raised on a voluntary basis were far ahead of the equipment available. He added that it would be a proud thing to be able to say at the end of the war that without compulsion the country had done something no other country had ever done. The Minister of Munitions pointed out on the same occasion, however, that the introduction of compulsion as an important element in organising the nation's resources and skilled industry did not necessarily mean conscription in the ordinary sense. We had saved the liberties of this land more than onco by compulsory service. Mr. Lloyd George's remarks touched upon the new meaning the term "national service" has acquired by the exigencies of the situation. As long as voluntary enlistment produces recruits in exces3 of tho country's capacity for the production of munitions it is obviously in the latter direction that attention must first be turned. In siich a war as this there is some form of national service which all may perform, and whether compulsion will be resorted to or not will depend upon tho response to the call. As the military correspondent of "The Times" observed the other day, the new meaning of national service involves that the wholo of "the. able-bodied population must come forward and serve, not only in the Navy and Army, but in uny capacity in which their services are needed. It is useless to possess an army of millions unless the munition factories are fully manned. Tho people must be organised for a war for their existence, and the whole strength of the country must be brought to bear to defeat the enemy. That the people appreciate this fact is shown by the splendid support-Mr. Lloyd Gem-go is receiving in his endeavours to organise the munitions-producing powers of the country to the utmost-degree of effic-

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