The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 1917. THE MILITARY AGE LIMIT.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 17060, 13 August 1917, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 1917. THE MILITARY AGE LIMIT.

The National Government will lay itself open, to we'l-deserved censure if it accepts the responsibility of placing before Parliament a proposal to reduce ttie military ag-j limit to nineteen years. Parliamentaiy correspondents hav»j ventured to "predict with some assurance" that the Government does intend to bring down such a proposal, in mo form of an amendment to the Military Service Act; but it is to be hoped that the prediction will be -proved to bo erroneous. The whole experience of the war has been that the fighting line is no place for immature boys, and it is ior the firing line that men are wantei. We cannot help feeling thnt if such a proposal :*s actually submitted to Parliament it .will be regarded by the community as an evidence of Ministerial cowardice, and an attempt by the Government to evade its responsibilities per medium of the cruel and unjustifiable expedient of sacrificing the boys There are in tin* Second Division many thousands of perfectly fit me, and it will be time enough to think about calling up the boys when this source of supply is noaring exhaustion. We believo this opinion will be shared bj a ivery large proportion of the men in the Second Division. It has been said, we think truly, that only those who have had relatives on service have fully rea-

lised the gravity of the war, whicli means, in other words, that the burden of sacrifice up to the present has been for the most part borne by the mothers and fathers whose sons so nobly responded to the Empire's call. It is, indeed, the mothers of eligible sons who have suffered, and it would be shameful to argue that they alone among the women of New Zealand should be called upon to bear the pain of parting with their dear cnes, and the ceasefess stram of inevitably attendant upon their absence. It would be shees brutality to take perhaps the only remaining boy from a mother who "has already parted with her other sons, that some strong, able-bodied married^ man may be permitted to evade his national obligations. Our young men have done nobly. Under the voluntary syste?n they came forward in their thousands, and set a magnificent example to their fellow citizens. Without hesitation they rallied to the colours and went away to fight not only for their own mothers -and sisters, but fof al! the women and children of .the Empire, find for ali that we as Britishers hold dear. Now that conscription is m force, these men who went out voluntarily have the right to expect that the eligible married men of the community will show themselves ready to play the game ir. defence of their wives and children, and make it clear to the politicians that th*y have no wish to have their responsibilities delegated to an army of youna and growing lads. That there is reason to hope that this expectation will be justified is evidenced by the resolutions already passed by the executives of the Auckland and Invercargili branches of. the Second Division League, emphatically protesting against the Government's intention to reduce the military age.. In our opinion the proposal is in- • defensible from every point of view save that of sheer necessity. It must be remembered that the circumstances have been entirely altered by the adoption of conscription. Under the voluntary system, with the age limit fixed at twenty years, it was optional for a young man to enlist or to refrain from enlisting. That so many gallant young fellows made the heroic choice will stand to their everlasting credit. But, having of their own free will chosen to serve, no r!ame can be reasonably attached to the State for having accepted their services. It is different now. There is no option. And if the age limit is reduced, the lads of nineteen will be compelled to serve. By whn.t right? By the right of might! The lads are helpless. They have no votes. They are too young to be entrusted with civic and political privileges. Is Parliament prepared to say that they are not too young to be compelled xo o&er then- young Jives in sacrificial substitution for the stalwarts of the earli.grades of the Second Division? If p ar . hament i s prepared to say this, then it is prepared to tear up one of the fundamental principles of democratic government just as the Hm* tore up the historic scrap o f paperj » the violati • which plur, S ed the world into war! Eitiier that, or the striplings who are to be sacrificed must be. given the full rights of citizenship, albeit in the circumstances the gift would be but a sorry and inadequate compensation for the sacrifice involved. A-lad of nine teen has the best pn.rt of his life to live Before him are all the possibilities -»f frmtrul manhood, with their attendant benefit to the State; he is a national asset of incalculable'prospective value-. A man of the Second Division, on the" other hand, has tasted more or l 6 s/ s of the fulness of life, and in many, instances he has in all probability * Xr hausted his creative possibilities, and, again in many instances, he is probabtv in a position to leave those dependent on him adequately provided for. Where he cannot do this, it is the recognised duty of the State to do it for him, and it is for Parliament to see that.the duty is adequately performed. Moreover, he is armed with the right .to use his voic* and his vote for the promotion of his own best interests, and, be it noted, he is using that right to-day—as is witnessed by the existence of the SeoonJ Division League. It follows, of course; that the right involves a corresponding obligation—the obligation to serve his country in its hour of need. There is, too, the moral aspect of the matter to be considered, and in this connection it surely does not need to be stressed that a lad of nineteen is far more likely to succumb'to the temptations which follow in the trail of an army than in the man of mature age and experience. We deplore as sincerely as anyone the fact that the prolongation of the war bids fair to make it necessary for married men to be called to service in the near future; but, deplorable as it is, the necessity, when it comes, must be met by those who^e proper duty it i*. to meet it. That the great majority will meet it 'n the right spirit we fiiralv believe, and in the meantime we hope to see the sentiments expiessed by. the Auckland find Invercargili . executives of the Second Division League promptly and emphatically endorsed by evory branch of the- League throughout the Dominion.