Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1948 A KIWI ON CONSCRIPTION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 74, 28 July 1948, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1948

A KIWI ON CONSCRIPTION

From Mr Kenneth Melvin, Dominion president of the 2 N.Z.E.F. Association, comes the suggestion—he says it is the conviction of his. Association—that universal physical and recreational training would be of more practical use to the nation than universal compulsory military service. We take it he is not discussing the merits or, demerits pf compulsory military service in time of war. .Twice already this country has adopted that means to fill the ranks of our fighting units overseas, and probably a substantial, if not overwhelming, body of public opinion would favour doing it again if the need arose. But, as a. contribution to the discussion of training youth in peace time, even with a weather eye on the possibility of war, Mr Melvin’s suggestion strikes one as constructive and sensible. As he says, New Zealanders are a race who will be attracted only to a training scheme shorn of soul-destroying' routine. From the point of view of citizenship, it might be pointed out in support of Mr Melvin’s view, that the self-imposed discipline of the sports field, where everyone -is expected to “plfiy the game” for the benefit of the team a? a whole, is. likely -to prove . a far better characterbuilder than the rigid discipline of the parade ground, where .men are taught to do what they are told—“of else.” , ■ If the need should ever arise again for fighting men, then let it be remembered that fit men make better fighting material than the unfit. If that need does not arise, then national fitness . will always prove an industrial asset, and a 'valuable heritage that can be handed on to posterity. Except in time o" actual .warfare, or under defir'te threat of war, there is not much to be said for universal military training that cannot also be said for universal physical training, "and there is this much to be said for the latter that cannot be said for the former—lt would be much more likely to have the wholehearted co-operation of the trainees.

Moreover, there is no denying the character-building force of competitive sport. It is said with some truth that England’s greatest battles have been won on the playing fields of her greatest schools. It.might be said of New Zealand that the ability to “take it” with a grin, the independence of spirit and the dauntless courage that are recognised as essentials of her national character were built on the playing fields that are so much a feature of community life here. Sportsmanship, carried into daily life, would bring with it to

all our dealings with each other a chivalry and courtesy that are oftan lacking today. Mr Melvin deserves congratulations on a constructive suggestion, and on his courage in making it, knowing the criticism that will probably descend upon his head from the “diehards” who still hope to win the next war’s battles with parade-ground drill.