MILITARY SERVICE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 143574, 12 August 1911, Page 4

MILITARY SERVICE.

AIR. ISITT’S VIEWS ON COMPULSION. “It is the sacred duty of a citizen to defend hfe country against the aggression of an enemy,” said Mr'. L, Al. Isitt at St. Albans on Tuesday evening. “The preparations for military and naval defence are absolutely necessary. ’ They'are the price of national existence. 1 am not afraid of Germany. 1 don’t .suffer from the antiGerman fever. I think that our real danger lies in the military development of the semi-civilised races, which are preparing armies and navies that some day may be used against ns. We must be ready for attack. But when' 1 have said all that. 1 still say that the system of compulsory military training was forced upon this country without adequate opportunity being given for full consideration by’ the people. J believe that wo might have devised a system that would have obviated the necessity for the compulsory clauses that press so heavily upon people who have conscientious scruples. “Why should the people who believe in universal service ram their views down the throats of the Quakers? .The Qnakct'S arc the salt of the earth today. Now 1 do not believe that it would not he possible to modify the compulsory clauses without .lessening the effectiveness of our military system. I shall bo ready to support proposals for such a modification. Were it- not for the miserable w'ay in which the Government treated the Volunteers, there would have been no need for any element of compulsion. The Volunteer service was starved, and now, while we are prosecuting and imprisoning the conscientious objectors, we arc actually refusing to allow young men to secure military training because they are over twenty-one years of age. Four lads wore rejected for that reason in Christchurch during the last few weeks.”