DEFENCE OF THE DOMINION.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 12757, 30 April 1909, Page 5

DEFENCE OF THE DOMINION.

Universal Military Training

Mr Jas Allen's Opinion

(Per United Press Association). MILTON, April 28.

At Milton to-night Mr J. Alien, M.P., addressed a meeting of his constituent* on the subject of defence. In the counso oi' ilia address ne said that though he had hung on as a Volunteer officer year after yo«r in the? hope that things would bel.tfr t lipniselves and that the ytung men of the couiitry would realise what patriotism really was, he was now forced into the position that the whole thing was on wrong 1 lines and was a great waste of money. He added that in the Otago district there are supposed to be 4730 officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, and yeh at the last Easter Encampment the attendance wa6 only 1415 (including 307 cadets). Mr £]]en advocates universal training where everybody shall give something, at any rate, of his time and of his ability to the service of his country. Nothing, he says, is further from his mind thaa the bugbear of conscription. What he urges is a system that has been tried elsewhere and which has proved itself to a very large extent a success. He does not believe that this national training should end at 21 years. He would begin with the cadet and carry on the training consecutively to 21, and from that time onward men should be brought out annually for a certain amount of training, so that in the course of time there ought to be such a force ready to take arms that even the most powerful nation approximate to us would hesitate to come into conflict with us. We could not slurk this responsibility and wownw not make preparation for it in a day. The Australians, he contended, were going on right lines generally in the matter of defence, and they were backed up by expert opinion as expressed at the Colonial Conference. Mr Allen was thanked for his address and the meeting carried a resolution in favour of universal training, both for military and naval defence.