NATIONAL ORGANISATION

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2785, 1 June 1916, Page 4

NATIONAL ORGANISATION

"Conscription is the wrong word, ancl gives a wrong idea to the public mind.- What we really mean by conscription is national organisation." The statement here recorded is tak'en from an interview with Me. James Macintosh, .President of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, published ill a recent issue of the Melbourne Herald. Mk. # Macintosh, it seems, was on . a visit to Melbourne when news. came through from New Zealand of the Government's intention to introduce some form of compulsory service, and lie was sought out for information on the subject. Mb. Macintosh could not give any particulars of the Government's mcasurfc, because its provisions were not known when ho left New Zealand, but ho gave something to the interviewer, and to the people of Australia, which, wo think, was of greater value. That is to say, he provided them with a taking phrase and incidentally a tabloid argument which should make appeal to every intelligent person desirous that we should win out to victory in this war. Taking it - for granted that we -do all wish to see Germany defeated-, Mb. . Macintosh, in effect, argues that there is only one way, and that is to ensure that such means as we possess shall be used to the best advantage. ' National organisation alone can secure this: organisation that will enable the services of each man or woman to be put to the best possible use whether in the fighting lilies, on the farm, in the workshop, or in the office. Voluntaryism does not do this, for.the simple reason that the citizen under voluntaryism offers his service where he chooses and without that full knowledge or regard to the needs of-the situation which those in authority alone possess—or should possess. National organisation cannot bo given full effect unless the Government arc empowered to utilise the country's man power to the best advantage. That is what is being sought under the Military Service Bill. Not "Conscription" in' the sense in which the term is used by windy agitators intent on gaining their ends by creating a false impression and alarming the public, but National Organisation. Tho Melbourne Herald a few days after its publication, of the views expressed by Mr. Maointosh discussed the question of National Service in its editorial columns, and put the matter very pithily in tho following sentence: "They (tho advocates of compulsory'service) propose only to organise so that the people of tho Empire may discharge effectively the duty and instinct of self-preservation ancl tho preservation of their institutions and liberties and their women and children." That sums up tho position very well. Organisation is the keynote of tho whole scheme — National Organisation—the organisation of the whole of our resources so that wo can exert our power to the utmost with a minimum of dislocation and waste —organisation that will make easier and speedier the path to that victory which we are all determined shall bo ours.