THE MILITARY AGE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12085, 14 August 1917, Page 2

THE MILITARY AGE.

GOVERNMENTS DECISION. ] DEFENCE MINISTER BACKS DOWN. CONSCRIPTION AGE WILL PROBABLY BE LEFT UNTOUCHED. (Special to the "Star.") WELLINGTON, August 14. The furore of indignation throughout the country at the proposed reduction of the enlistment age to nineteen has convinced the Government of the futility of asking Parliament to authorise the conscription of youths below the present military age. The Defence Minister has therefore been constrained to amend his original proposal, and when the amendment of the Military Service Act is presented to the House it will in all probability ua found that the conscription age is ieit ui..ouched, but that in view of military <cm agencies provision will be made for tho voluntary enh-scmem. oi bt""Vi&u nineteen aiid iwd-.j years of' ,£0 - | REDUCTION DISCUSSED BST CBRISTCHURCE PRESBYTERY. EMPHATIC PROTEST ENTERED. At the meeting of the Christchurch Presbytery to-day, the Rev Dr Erwin ret erred to the proposal of the Government to reduce the age for military ser- | vice, and maintained that there was I is.; necessity for such a proceeding. J There was a. large number or men in uic Dominion well able to serve. He w.-.s sure that no member cf the presbytery would approve of the conscripting of youths in such manner. It had been proved that youths could not stand the long and protracted strain as was imposed upon them by military training. The susceptibility to disease was increased as a. result of the strain. That had been proved by tho Gallipoli experience. In emphatic tones, Dr Erwin declared that while men of present military age were available in "Sew Zealand; v.o Government had a right to demand the consciip- ! tion of the youths of the country as was proposed. No such necessity existed, declared Dr_ Erwin. The Govprnment was evidently afraid to face the financial liabilities. It had, he contended, shown itself very lenient towards finance. The Government should be made to realise that the country was entirely against it in the proposal to reduce the military age of youths. The Government, too, should be told in no uncertain voice that it would be required to make adequate and proper prevision for the Second Division, by some form of taxation, or as ma'v othenn,9 be decided. "Vr.Hl the fctfcoiid Division is exhausted the people or this country should resist to the utmost any attempt by the Government to conscript boys as was suggested," fV T Lrwjri > "'-"> moved: "That this p.-esbyrery enters its emphatic protest icJuce the military oge i or service." Li™ J - Uick ? n ' in ending ".-• motion expressed his firm con vie" ion that the proposal was a mos° perlucious and unnecessary one. Ue Quite agreed that youths could not stand the f.oam. The intention is to sacrifice our boys under a scheme of false toonomy. said },lr Dickson. There were ..en,;/ or single men of mature in who could do much br>tto-v.-oriv tr-an these youths, I\l r Dickson cjirtendcd, .and that source should be' thoroughly drawn upon and exhausted oeiore.a.ny attempt was made to draw upon youtns of nineteen years of If anything, the present'military siiouki do raised. Older men were much better able to stand hardships and to carry trough Ion?, hard Th« cases of Ihe Old Country and N*w Zealand ran on entirely different lino?. 'Treat Mrita-in was engaeed in a. life and death struggle and it had been necessary to conscript the vcuth of the British Isles. That policy may yer. require to b e adopted in New Zealand, but there was absolutely no necessity for it at present. Th 6 resources of the country in man power were still strong. . in calling ud youths the military authorities at Home had simply been filling the hospitals. He would support the motion of protect to the utmost. The Rev A." T, Thompson said he to give his whole-hearted support to the motion. The Government had been too prodigal in sending men, and had not sufficiently considered other means. The proposal 'to reduce the age for military service would, if given of- ( feet to, be a tragedy to the. Dominion. Ihe proposal was put forward to save the face of a Government which was not prepared to face the financial burden involved in sending men of th.e Second Division. The motion was carried unanimously, and it was decided that copies of tho ' resolution of protest should be forwarded to' the Prime Minister and to all Canterbury members of the Legislature. MR J. M'COMBS INTERVIEWED.

HOW TO DELAY THE SECOND DIVISION. "When, in order to_draw public attention to what was being proposed, I a question in Parliament, regarding the calling up of immature youths, J iiurdly expected such universal cond iMn.ttiOn and protest/' said iUr James ".Si. Combs, M.P., in an interview with a 'Star" reporter to-day. ''Needless x : v, lam delighted with the result." it may be true, as stated by the T'rvne Minister 'to Mr Sfcath."*.ir^coni i . ued .Mr M'Combs, " that Ca o;nei had not yet considered the proposal,. but. ri.o fact remains that- the L:li had actui\'r- been drafted and it was probabiv tit foundation for Sir James Allen's staioment that the Government would propose measures which would have -tha •- ■Tcct of postponing the calLng up or i':r, S.cond Division. It may be, of ccurs?, that there are other proposals. •'New Zealand has five brigades in i!v> field, counting the brigade operating against 'the Turks. j\ew Zealand, however, equipped and sent only two bridges from these shores as main bodies, and the Dominion is, therefore, in the position of having created more new brigades out of accumulations of reinforcements than she originally • undertook to send. -ALTERNATIVE METHODS. "The Government might insist that these accumulations should be t uscd for the purpose for which they were raised —that of reinforcing or making up the tvastage in our main bodies. New Zealand has already enrolled 86,000 men, and Canada, to equal her eifor'ts should enrol 650,000; yet Canada, with the aid of. her recent conscription law, only hopes to bring her total to 500,000. It is 2*30 well known," continued 3lr M'Combs, " that conscription is mors or less a failure in New Zealand. As many as 2000 men in some of the conscription ballots have failed to report 1 themselves, and there J?ave been nine ballots. As a result, some of the reinforcements have been made up by, sending men who have had only a> >sx)

weeks' training. The Governnienit lias given up advertising for the missing men, but !r::-ls";ation may 1>& brought down thi: session to try and deal with the difficulty and if eucTi legislation is successful it uvry have ':-ho effect of postponing the calling up of the Second Division."

A VETERAN'S OPINION. Major Luskj of Auckland, who over fifcv years ago did good service during the Maori war. especially in the fight when ho held the church at Mauku against a big force of Natives, was asked his opinion on Saturday on the subject of the proposed conscription or youths. He tersely replied: " A boy of eighteen years is too soft in the generality of casc-s to stand severe nuhtaiy training. In ray opinion, it would be far better to extend the- age of men eligible to forty-eight or fifty years. Then men would be sent to the front who would be a great, deal more serviceable than these young fellow?;. I know Quite a number of the right stamp of men who tried to enlist, but were turned down because' they were a little over the ace limit. Now, if tbat limit was extended, no doubt, many men Avould come forward who would make excellent soldiers, and we could leave the boys at home." At a general meeting of the 0.W.1. last Saturday the following resolution was passed:—"The C.W.I, desires to thank all the Ohristchurch newspapers for the. stand they have. taken against, any proposal to conscript boys of nineteen years.' 1 •