COMPULSORY SERVICE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144828, 4 November 1915, Page 2

COMPULSORY SERVICE.

A VERY LIVE QUESTION. FBOM OtTK OWN COEBESPOKDENT. WELLINGTON, Nov. 3. The sole topic of discission in the capital city to-day is: Are we going to have conscription ? The Prime Minister has as much as said it will be so; the Defence Minister says he has never known such unanimity on a complex question. Quito a good number of the men answering the questions asked in the national register say, in effect, that they desire conscription. One portion of "the men in the street” says: ‘‘lf wo have conscription the miners will go out on strike.” Another portion says: “We cannot get conscription hero until they have it in England.” In the meantime these people play billiards and go to the theatre. Lucky dogs 1 Their friends and relatives are holding the end up in Gallipoli. The man who rants against conscription will tell you that he would be just as well off if the Germans were in charge here. But he has not read the report of the Belgian Atrocity Commission. He -ays that the Belgians committed just as gross atrocities at Putaraayo as the Huns are now committing. But he docs not recollect the Nurse Cavell murder, the Lusitania, the rapine committed in Belgium, the afflictions cast upon his relatives and friends in Gallipoli and Flanders. Who can dare stand up, in the face of these facts, and say, “I won’t go to the war just because my country needs me”? Conscription is in the air all right. The country must have the men. ft is a matter of life or death to the nation. Who is going to be a party to the downfall of that nation? Thousands have gone to help the show along. Thousands more will go. A tew small reverses in the Champagne and the Caucasus do not matter much to the Germans. They have millions of men. They have had conscription for years, hence their successes. .

There is a great possibility of a session of Parliament before Christmas to determine the question of conscription. Seen by your representative, several members of Parliament from different parts of the country gave expression to divergent views on the matter of compulsory service. One said that talk of conscription by Ministers was “all gag.” AVe were doing exceedingly well under the voluntary system, with its multitude of drawbacks, and it would be a great pity to spoil it with anything in the nature of compulsion. .Another member said bo bad two sons at the front and he would welcome conscription, inasmuch as the individual who was dodging would be brought into line with those who had breasted the tape at the initial call. All the members spoken to agreed that the possibility of a session at an early date was by no means remote. These opinions are strengthened by the fact that the New Zealand representatives to visit England (Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph AVard) may possibly not get back before the end of June, at which time Parliament must meet, unless supply is granted beyond that date.