Volunteering.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13397, 21 September 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

Volunteering.

AN ALTERNATIVE. •.A "Patriot" to a letter to the Wellington "Post" says : While all true pat-riots rejoice- to find the, ever-serious problem of national defence receiving a fair, measure'of consideration, there are'those who. would.-Hke v to see the adoption by this country of a plain, homely system... In' the long ago. when the British Empire wars in its infancy, all freemen earned' arm 9 .and .knew-' fullwell how to use them ; the only oikis exempted from this national duty being the slave, the unfit, and tha priest. When tlie "call to jarms- came;- this nation of armed men rose as one- man, and how well and bravely they stood in the hour of peril the greatness of our Empire to-day fxilly attests. - ■-■■ Let every individual ask himself if national preservation >is : being conducted, oh proper lines, and every practical man.will have to admit that if trouble comes, as it inevitably will, we/are unprepared. ; A few thousand volunteers ; are the only provision made for protecting our hearths and! homes, and unfortunately these our weaponed men do not altogether represent the flower of our manhood.

To drill all men on standing army lines is completely out of the question, as'' the cost would be prohibitive. lb would be far better to let the present system go by the board and simply a,tm every man with a rifle and plenty of ammunition . By setting aside a few days in each month for practica at the butts, this country could, like England of old, be ready for anv foe rash enough to try conclusions. Under this: system drill halls <ind all the pomp and glitter incidental to standing armie? could ba dispensed with. The succciss of this system was proved in the Boer War.- There we had the spectacle of a foremost nation of the world waging a long, costly, and bloody war with a small 'band of .sturdy paeto.ialists, , who fought under their sinipk burgher system; and it was only lack of men that prevented 1 them carrying the war to a successful issue. - •

This colony has set up a Council of Defence for the purpose of putting matters on a better footing. Various methods more or lea? -expensive have been advocated. Why not steer evear of conventional rats, which have so little to recommend' them, and adopt the style under which orir erstwliile "enemias catried on a three years' war? This practical race had' a supreme contempt for all d : rill-»a fact not to b? lostsight of. Another phase of the. question —pay and high honours—were conspicuous by, their absence. Comparo this'practical style with our own, and one finds food for reflection. . , • '