Public Meeting Favours Compulsory Training

Chronicle (Levin), 26 July 1949, Page 4

Public Meeting Favours Compulsory Training

/That the citizens of Levin and! district represented in the gatherihg pledged themselves 'to secure an aflirmative Vote at the forthcoming refefendum was the motion passed unanimously at a public .meeting in Levin last night after addresses Were givem' hy Mr. J. R. Marshall, M.P. for Mt. Victoria, Mr. N, M. Thomson, president of... the Levin R.S.A.:, and Mr. J. Mathieson, M.P. for Avon. /The Mayor," Mr. H. B. Burdekin, presided. . It was. necessary that the .Gov-3i-nment have an overwhelming vote from the people to give it the authority to imp,ement its scheme for. compulsory military training, said Mr. Mathieson. This decision nad not been decidedU upon in a hufry .or "treated lightiy, but had ceeh fully gone into by competent men*. The sole object of the scheme was merely for ^defence and not for an offensive war.

There were two groups opposed to the scheme, the pacifist idealist and the Communists and their Sympathisers/ conoinued Mr. Mathieson. In answer to the first group he would say that he afohorred war just as fervently as they did and believed that in this eniightened age a formula for peace shou'd be found, but until such a formula was found he could not ■agree that a country should be left defenceless. The pacifists had beautifui ideas, but no government could alford to have them. The idealist 'had no" responsibilities,' but it would bb' a flagrant breach of trust for a Government not to prepare for the defence of its people. All New Zealanders ' wanted was to be permitted to live the way they Wanted to rather than a wa.y of life imposed on them by a foreign power. It had been said by the pacifists that conscription led to war. ■ That was not a.ways so ii* the nation was a peace loving one. Switzerland had had conscription

fbr 75 ygars and had never been an oftensive country. . ; ,Tho .other group, the . Communists, had very questionable motives in opposing the issue, sai'd Mr. Mathieson, and they had no loyalty to the British Commonwealth of Nations. They said- no country wanted to attack New Zealand. He hoped they were right, but he must Say he did, not have that amount, of confidence. ..The- Communists' ideal was tq have the democracies weak and vulnerable. In conclusion he stressed the necessity of universal compulsory military training as the best and fairest policy. Apathy Led Ta Disaster. Apathy had led one great nation to disaster, said Mr. Thomson, the next speaker. He urged that everyone at least go to the poll and vote. The question of Whether a referendum on the sub.iect .had been the wisest course for the Government to pursue was not important now. It was law and the main thing now was to vote. It made one shudder, he said, to contemplate the employment of untrained, ill-equipped manpower against a powerful invading force. "Twice we have been caught unprepared. ' Let iis try the other way for a tiine.^ Ij ■ 4 £i^- *. • ; ti1 Reds Brought Out. The Communists in. New- Zealand now numbered thousands, not just &, handful as before, and .this campaign had at least brought them out of their holes, said Mr. Marshall. The fact that they opposed the scheme was a strong enough reason why all loyal citizens should support it, he added. ! Even the not quite convinced ones had to agree that New Zealand was. a country worth defending. The defence of New Zealand lay in the defence of the frontiers of the free world also, and those frontiers had heen pus'hed in a bit. The frohtiers were now Finland, Berlin, Trieste, Greece, Middle East, Khy-ber Pass, Hong Kong and Alaska. "We don't defend those frontiers alone -but in company with all the free nations— all those who still have an opposition party in their Parliament." The stand the fre'e countries had taken in 'Berlin had shown that strength Was the only language the enemy tmderstood. So long as t'hey were 'opposed by a strength greater than their own they - would keep the peace. . Some people were saying "Don't have conscription yet — put it off. The situation is hot urgent enough:" To' that he would sa/ that if it was not done now it would not be done until it was too late. "Don't look at the situation as it is now," continued Mr. Marshall. "If we are to preserve the peace Idok ahead five, ten or 20 years." In the last few years, he said, eleven" countries in Europe had beeh invaded, not by armed force but by a fifth column -backed by the strongest military force in the world. The fomenting of strikes,

subversive activity and other means of causing industrial discontenti as was being seen in Australia and Engiand, had the habmarks of the forerunner of the cold war. "We must be Strong if we are to preserve the peace," he added. Following the addresses, Mr. E. R. Winkler put the motion to the meeting. It was seconded -by Mr. J. Sciaseia, on behalf of the Maori race.