The Wanganui Chronicle THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1940. COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 44, 22 February 1940, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1940. COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE

'J’HE Wanganui City Council adopted the correct attitude when it refused to consider the question of compulsory mill lary enlistment. The 'Wanganui City Council—like all otliei local bodies—is elected for the purpose of supervision and promoting the local administration of the city, and it has a mandate from nobody to discuss or to express its opinions upon the subjects which are the especial province of Parliament. Local bodies should confine themselves to their particular work, wherein they will usually find ample scope for their energies. On the other hand, the subject of compulsory military service will have to be considered. There is not a little confusion in the minds of some people concerning its desirability. The nation is fighting for its existence, and that being the ease it behoves everyone to make the contribution that is within his capacity. The capacity in which the individual shall .serve must be decided by those most competent lo judge of the matter, and that is most certainly not the individual. The average man is thinking straight on this subject to-day: he says that compulsory national service is fair because, it takes all, excepting those incapable of serving in a military capacity and those whose present occupations are more necessary than immediate military service. The system of voluntary enlistment for service was a satisfactory method when the war on hand was in the nature of a side show, and the requisite numbers could be provided by such a method, but, the need for greater numbers than the voluntary system is likely to provide is the first flaw in the argument in favour of that method of raising troops. The next flaw is that the voluntary system of enlistment provides a moral compulsion on those sensible of social obligations, and leaves untouched those devoid of such sensibility and those so lacking in social sense are precisely the persons to whom compulsion would be applied. If the voluntary system is as desirable as its advocates would make out, then logically they should advocate the voluntary contribution to the Exchequer of the money now raised by taxes. Where is the Minister of Finance who would accept the responsibility for adopting the voluntary system of raising money? And seeing that, as Josh Billing remarked, “there ain't no such person,” why require a Minister of Defence to endeavour to raise man-power by a method which would not be used to produce money-power?