A TRIUMPH OF THE AGE.

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 8005, 10 September 1906, Page 2

A TRIUMPH OF THE AGE.

TO THE EDITOR. " But there they stood, like the fighters of old (and imbued with the same lust of victory, maybe) when they shouted from the arena, " Ave Caesar! uiorturi te salutan tit" (Hail, Caesar, we who are about to dia salute thee). The scene on Saturday conjured up a gladiatorial picture, us it actually possessed features of those Roman days in the suppressed excitement of the crowd, the interest in the issues, and the determination of the principals,"—Vide Herald report of luterprovinciai Football Match.

Sir.—Wben one reads the above fulsome panegyric, and of Io.UOU people watching a football match, one realises the enormous place which interest iu suoh play and in horse-racing holds in the minds of thousands of our colonists at the present day. One cannot but have a feeling of dismay at the simultaneous absence of interest in the vital question of national defence, as shown by the infinitesimal portion of those spectators who take any share whatever of the most elementary kind in training themselves for the defence of their country. This blind devotion to sport must inevitably lead to ruin, unless it be balanced and reduced to its proper importance in the scheme of national life by a sense of civil responsibility aud duty. In the days of Roman decadence, when luxury and ease had eaten into the virility of the people, and they had abandoned their old principles of personal service iu defence of the country, in favour of the employment of mercenaries and slaves, the Colisium used to be packed with howling crowds who watched the gladUtor "butchered to make a Koman holiday." Personal responsibility and the pitriotism of republican Rome had given way to complete apathy on all matters affecting the Commonwealth. Iu tbe words ot a well-known French historian, " the great majority of the inhabitants of the Empire took no interest in the defence of the country and shunted this duty on the shoulders of men whom they paid for the purpose. People thought they had performed their duty to the country, when thoy had paid their taxes. As to taking a personal share in the matter, few tared to do so. The military spirit had eutirely disappeared in this sift aud over-civilized society. Games, trivialities and pmtomine had taken the place of the qualities that made Rome great." On reading the extracts which 1 have made from Monday's Herald, one could not help being struck with the fact that something of the kind is happening in our own Empire to-day. With vast responsibilities, with dominions scattered far across the surface of the globe, we find a widespread lack of sense of responsibility, and we bnd 15.000 poople watching a football match, which to j-our. contemporary's reporter conjured a gladitorial picture of the Romatj days," It is to counteract such tendencies, to strenthen the h'bre of the people and increase the sense of c'vic

responsibility, to strengthen the powijr of the Empire for peace by making it prepared for war, to draw together all men in common sense to a common cause, that the New Zealand Empire and National Service League is formed. Only by this can we ensure that we shall stand firm in the day of need, and avoid the fate of those great nations of the past, which have falltin away from the principles and practice which nude them great, and become degraded in the selfish aborption in the accumulation of money and the foolish worship of children's games. —1 am etc., NATIONAL SERVICE. Hamilton,'ith September, 190U,