Selective Military Service May Be Introduced

Press, Volume C, Issue 29498, 27 April 1961, Page 22

Selective Military Service May Be Introduced

"TM Press- Special Service WELLINGTON, April 26. To meet the manpower needs of the Armed Services, particularly of the Army, the Government may introduce a form of selective military service.

The Minister of Defence (Mr Eyre) has called for a report on such a system ■which is operated notably in the United States—and a decision is expected to be made by the Government for inclusion in the general defence review early in June. Mr Eyre and his advisers ■ are clearly concerned at the tailure of the voluntary system of recruiting to provide the Army and other services with the manpower to meet all their commitments. The new system envisages giving military training to a selected number of youths each year. Youth Registration All youths would have to register, and those not called up for military training would probably have to undertake national emergency training in the civil defence scheme. It is nearly three years since compulsory military training was abolished. Although the Army has managed to maintain a force of battalion strength in

Malaya, recruiting at present for its replacement has been so disappointing that Mr Eyre’s defence advisers are worried about it. Moreover. the active strength of the Territorial Force is much below expectations.

On paper. New Zealand should have a territorial force of about 7000, but not much more than half this number attended the last annual camps. Territorial Force

A fully efficient territorial force would number about 15.000. The Government will have to make important decisions on how a selective system of military service would operate. Some circles say that although the Returned Services’ Association would back it, the opposition to a selective service scheme would be so great that it would be politically difficult to introduce.

Military sources are aware that the New Zealand

public is not defence conscious, and that the Minister will have a hard fight in Cabinet to convince his colleagues of the necessity both for a selective service scheme and for higher expenditure on the armed forces. They are conscious, too, that New Zealand’s economic problems are a handicap to their plans for defence modernisation and re-equip-ment. «M MOUms On Defence Each year the country is spending about £3O million on defence, of which £9 million has to come from overseas funds. If modernisation in all three services were fully carried out, an extra £lO million a year might be required for the next 10 years. The Minister recognises the limits placed on possible defence expenditure by the current balance of payments crisis, but equally he is determined to make some early progress on modernisation and re-equipment