The Timaru Herald. FIUDAY. APRIL 30, 1909.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13891, 30 April 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. FIUDAY. APRIL 30, 1909.

UNIVERSAL TRAINING. While there i.s :i very general agreement amongst our public men that the volunteer system i.s become a failure "played out" —and while tliere is an equally general agreement that .something .should he done, some other system put in its place: this something has yet to he defined, elaborated, recognised as sound and adequate, and its value and necessity impressed upon Unpeople of tlio Dominion, in order to ensure its adoption. So tar we do not seem to have got beyond a descriptive tierm for it—" universal training ' but even our public men are not agreed upon the meaning to be given to this term. The Prime Minister, if he. is correctly understood, means the training of the young male generation, from the ago of the primary school cadet, beginning with a dummy rifle, to the age of 21 : plus some vague suggestions of some sort of military training for rifle clubs. This appears to have been the idea of most of the members of the late House of Representatives, who spoke at all on the question of defence. There were at least two exceptions, Mr Jas. Allen and Mr Hornsbv, both of whom, when they spoke of universal training, meant universal training. Mr Al.»on' oH e *•«>«•»!* «are an

address to his. constituent* at- .Milton, entirely voted to the question of Defence, and he stated that h«j meant it tci be an address t» the whole of hb ••ountrynien, without regard to locality or party. Unfortunately. Mr Allen •spent most of his time in speaking about the defence of tin' Krnptrv generally. the Dreadnought gift, and th« importance of the Navy for the defence of ISritain and Britain'* wean commerce. Th is was. pretty well understood already. When lie came to speak of tin' fie tour? of New Zealand. ho pointed nut that this was one portion of the general problem of the defence of the Kmpire, a two-fold problem, on«* part of which is the maintenance of British supremacy at sea. the other part being provision tor the defence of each portion of the Empire within itself. He quoted the opinion of th»» ; General Staff given to the conference lof Colonial Premiers in London last | year, which pot in the Srtt place *" tfe«> • obligation of each self-governing unit ! of providing as far as possible tor it* own local security.'" in the second plai,-.-. provision for assisting a neighbour »h»Ti ffenssary. artd iri the third pla*re, th« maintenance of supremacy. 31 r Ualdanc, j> rrtr reader? know. acting npon this opinion. as hr- wa«y urging the formation «>f a Territorial, or Home fVfi-nce, Army in Britain, fwfore the Admiralty unfo- up to tkr* necessity for strengtlifrmin: thw Nary. AU Allen went on to discuss the pr*>_ vision New- Zealand ha.* made and is making for its own local security, and finds- it practically valueless. M« had had twenty years' experience xs a volunteer officer, and had tried to believs? in the system, hut he had now coam to the conclusion that it » a failure-, " the whole Citing on wronfj lines, and a greaC waste of money." Tho weakness of the system. w«»- gather from Mr Allen's, remarks, in hi* opiuioii lies irt the very feature which gives it a Damp, its voluntary character. Tljetime has come, he says, for universal training, not conscription, which had been raised as a bogey. not the training of sehoo! lioys and youths, as seemed to he the Prime .Minister's idea, but a system tinder which everyone' would give something of his time and ability to the servke of his country. Referring to .Sir Joseph Ward'.* proposal, he said lie *• blushed with shame when lie thought that grown men would tarn to their hoys and to their untrained rifle clubs, for the defence of themselves. their homes, their women awl their children." Unfortunately Mr Allen did not go into detail ami explain what he meant by universal training, except that he would begin with the cadet, continue hLs training tilt 21, ami from that time onward " everyone shortld he called out annually for » certain amount of training."' In concluding his remarks, however, Sir Alien seemed to water down his snggestion.' by, 'looking forward to * day " when we would have a Territorial Army, by asking his hearers "to reaJrsw file renditions of things and the position as it might he some I') or l~* or -"H years hence." Possibly the report from which we quote does him injustice. in producing the inconsistency between these statements and his Mrs ft of shame that grown men should look to their boy, to defend them. Considering only tins f|Ucstion of internal defence, the Cabinet wottld do well to appoint a Commission to enquire mto and report upon what can be done to raise an internal defence force that would not raise a smile in any possible rnemy. It is a much more important questior. than that of the prices and sources of supply of timber. And if such a Commission were appointed it should, we feci sure, aim at really nn<vcrsal service, including, that is, alt able-bodied males, because it will !*- useless to frame a compulsory law affecting only the young men. L nttt their elders—especially employers—- : show the spirit of patriotism implied in willingness to act as thetr country s 1 ilefcndcrs. the young men wilt manage to evade service, and they will be assisted in doing so by employers. It is no use talking of the necessity for defence, and then putting off adcci«at»' provision for it "10 or 1-7 or years.