MILITARY TRAINING ISSUE

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1930, Page 8

MILITARY TRAINING ISSUE

OPINION IN NEW PLYMOUTH.

NATIONAL DEFENCE LEAGUE.

Replies from numerous public bodies in Taranaki on the question of the reestablishment of military training were received at a meeting last night of the New Plymouth branch of the National Defence League of New Zealand. There were present Colonel C. H. Weston (president). Messrs. R. Pike, W. N. Stephenson, A. McHardy, B. White, P. G. Budd and Dr. P. C. Davie.

A resolution stating that “this club records its hope that the Government will re-establish military training under the Defence Act, 1909, at the earliest possible moment” was passed by the Taranaki Jockey Club, the Taranaki Hunt Club, New Plymouth Aero Club, and the New Plymouth branch of the South African Veterans’ Association.

The Taranaki County Council stated that while the need for rigid economy and careful administration on the part of the Government at the present juncr ture was recognised the council was of the opinion that the matter of the defence of the Dominion and its trade routes was of paramount importance to 1 the people and should receive the most careful and thoughtful consideration by the administration. A somewhat similar resolution was received from the Taranaki Employers’ Association. The following associations reported that the resolution was put to meetings and not carried: North Taranaki Cricket Division, the North Taranaki provincial executive of the Farmers’ Union, and the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce and the New Zealand council of the South African Veterans’ Association.

The New Plymouth branch of the Labour Party replied that the party had always been opposed to compulsory military training, this being a plank of the party’s platform. Commenting on the replies, the president described them as being on the whole satisfactory.