BABY SOLDIERS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13730, 21 October 1908, Page 4

BABY SOLDIERS.

Another of the extraordinary suggestions made by Sir Joseph Ward Inst night at Feilding is his proposal lo recruit the volunteer service from boys of 16. AVe are not- «oing into this proposal at any length, but we :>.«k anybody who knows anything of soldiering whether, a youth of 16 k a fit subject for ths> severity of th> military training which ought to bo undergone by what would be the first line, of our land defence if it ever liecame necessary to meet the invasion of an enemy. We ar.- in agreement wish the Premier's idea of coordinating the cadet force >'an admirable beginning, to our mind, in tho universal training of the manhood of th> country), with the adulttroop;, and we have always* hold that (htre should Ik* a connecting link lia-iwe.-ii ;]i•/ cadets and, the volunfeeis?. But to talk of passing boys of 16 into the adult companies ks rank nonsense. Eighteen j- an early enough age as a minimuin for our citizen-army, and any attempt to reduce it will only risk spoiling the material of onr defence force. However, ihis idea of the Premier is of a tyj>*> with his financial u\v>;an, which inakfu the infams of :o-day rttiponsiljlf for the heavy loam which h - is raising largely for the benefit of the present generation. He is making the babies- the guarantors of our debts ; apparently be want? them to tight our bat'.l■<» as well.