LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2666, 11 January 1916, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE FAILURE OF THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM NO ESCAPE FROM IIAIID FACTS. (To the Editor.) Sir, —As ono who has had some opportunity of viewing our military machine at close range lor some time past, may 1 offer some reflections on that inexhaustible topic—.Now Zealand's share in tho war? A great deal has been written on the subject of compulsory service of late — much of it, both for and against, from a purely theoretical point of view. 1 have had an intimate personal experience of what the voluntary system means in actual practice, and I say deliberately and unhesitatingly that as seen in the training camps of New Zealand to-day the voluntary system is full of monstrous injustice, and both wasteful and inefficient, liccruits como forward as tho spirit moves tliem, and m many districts the most unsuitable men are continually being forwarded into camp. One sees in tho ranks scores of immature boys, many of thorn nearer sixteen than twenty years of age. A'or are old -men less plentiful—men, obviously, to all eyes except those of tho military authorities, far above tlie agulimit for recruits. Men arc now in camp with hardly a single sound tooth in their heads—their mouths just a conglomeration of septic stumps of tectli. This sort of thing hieans appalling wasto and inefficiency. It is difficult to understand how any self-respecting, able-bodied man can stay comfortably at home and reduce the volume of recruiting in their districts so much that raw boys and decrepit old men have to be accepted or tho quotas go short. Everyone can call to mind great hulking able-bodied men among their acquaintances without any very serious ties who still sit at home deaf to overythmg. What is going to be tho effect of our voluntary system ill future of the thousands of boys under age who liavo enlisted and are enlisting? These boys, wo are told by competent officers at the front, have not the staying power of older men—no sane person would expect them to have it. They are far less valuablo as soldiers, yet they, cost every penny as much to train. Then what of th» outlook for tlioso of them who return from the iront. -They have been taken away from their civilian work before"-' they have permanently settled down and qualified themselves in any occupation requiring real skill. They will come back perhaps unsettled for life, and quite unable to set to steadily to complete their interrupted apprenticeships after the age for apprenticeship is past Among the lives that will be ruined by the war one can safely count in a big proportion of the boy soldiers. It is sad indeed to see fine, high-spirited ifl'ds. tho very cream of our future citizenslnp plucked unripe and thrown away, because of tho folly and blindness of politicians who are afraid to faco facts. Personally, I cannot understand how tho authorities, in view of the letters from so many high, officers at the front, can continue to enLr- thosD boys, " u i> it is an indisputable fact that a great many are taken who should most certainlv not be taken Walk round the camps, you great flabby stay-at-homes, and see somo of the striplings, married men with wives and families, and old grey-headed men who have stepped in to fill the place that you m your selfishness and sluggishness left vacant.

Nobody except a lunatic would seriously propose voluntary taxation as a basis for defraying the money cost ol the war, and can any sound reason bi> adduced that will stand up against tho realities o? the situation why we should continue the monstrous inefficiency and injustice of the voluntary enlistment system? A shrewd observation was made tho other day in tho cablo news —by Ah-. Aslunead Burtlutt, if. I rccollect aright. was that unless the Allies secured a decisive result this coming spring and summer in Europe they would bo 'unlikely ever to do so. Everything goes to . s ' low that we have to hit and hit still harder before we can thrust back tho enemy in any theatre of importance. \et one picks . up,one's daily newspaper and finds as the gist of New Zealand's New Year message the abandonment of one of tho Expeditionary Force training camps. Such a relaxation of eflort at such a time represents a depth of lolly that would bo incredible were it not set forth in black and white in the daily papers. The Ilangiotu Camp, after the departure of the Third and Fourth Battalions of the Eille Brigade is to be—not enlarged and oxtended to accommodate a still larger body of troops—but after a spell used for a Territorial annual training camp Thus tho National Ministry of New Zealand is so cocksure about the issue of tho present war that it is about to sit back and train the boys to fight in tho next war. If it were doino- this while carrying on and extending the Expeditionary Force training, it might have some excuse. To close Rangiotu under any other circumstances is an act of supreme folly, and will not bo made auy the less so by a Ministerial statement to the contrary. As the "war goes oil, one becomes indeed a. little tired of Ministerial statements. Ve have so long ago sunk "our last man" and "our last shilling" in this struggle—on paper—and expressed our unflinching determination to conquer in such a variety of phraseology, that there really remains very little more to be said. Unfortunately too many of our politicians have yet to learn that a slither of words is not a profitable substitute for action in war time. The politician under our democratic conditions is of necossity a man who lives on the surface of things. Ho is a dealer .in words and phrases, and seldom digs down into realities. If he is in office and public attention is directed to anything peculiar in tho working of his Department, he calls for a report—another mass of words put together by a gentleman whose last desire is to present the populace with the plain unvarnished truth. This precious document, as bulky and formidable in appearance as possible, is presented to Parliament with the utmost solemnity, as the last and uttermost word than can be said on the subject. A desultory debate ensues, generally takon before the few members so disposed have had time to read the Departmental report, and all goes on as before. Thus are we governed in peace times. In time of war —the greatest war in history—our tendency is to work along the same old paltry lines. Will our leaders ever wake up to the bigness of the occasion, and tackle the job courageously and whole-heartedly, with no other thought in mind than tho best moans of assisting to secure that victory whicli is vital to our future happiuesa and prosperity ?—I am, etc., .IN THE FIRING LINE.