THE NEW MILITARY CAMPS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 227, 19 June 1919, Page 6

THE NEW MILITARY CAMPS

SIR JAMES ALLEN REPLIES TO CHURCH CRITICS TRAINING GOOD CITIZENS D 7 TclceraDh—Prese Association. Auckland, June 18, "I am astonished," said Sir James Allen to-day, when referring to the discussion of the Council of Churches in Christchur?h relative to camp life, "that clergymen and church leaders, and particularly jndres who have been iu camp, nhould give expression to such statements about the influence of camp life and military training. 1 a,m prepared to say that there has been a certain .amount of evil in the military camps, but it was not produced them.- It was brought in from outside. I have abundant evidence of. that in camp. The chaplains have every opportunity to es. erciae their mllnence for good. In respect to the training camps of the Expeditionary I''orco the churches have never 'before had such an opportunity, and many of the chaplains did seize this opportunity. The evil certainly exists hi the country, pnd it is brought into the camp?, but whose faujt is it that the evil exists in the country? I.would like to ask N the Christchuroli ministers who . have indulged in this alarmist criticism if they have done all they might have done to produce men worthy of the name of New Zealanders. 1 belijve that the influence of camps is good, and that tlie influence of the officers and chaplains is for good. I believe that their lnliuenct tends to produce manliness and character, and that training develops virtues which have won ior New Zealand soldiers abroad their liig'i reputation as fighters and their good name among the peoples of the countriot they have been in. The Defence Department has certainly done all it could to make the camps places where the best influences could bo brought to bear on the men. In regard to tho four months' camns fgr youths of 18. a scheme I may say which has not l>een before Cabinet or Parliament, the object is twofold. The aims are that men shall receive tetter military and physical training thun is at present possible under tho Territorial 6ystem, and also' to develop good citizenship. If we can Ret these youths in camp for four months I am sure that the result will .b» that they, will become more healths citizens, both nhysieally and morally. TlFo statements made in Christchurch are a slur upon every soldier." Referring to the cost of the proposed new system of training, Sir James Allen said it would 'bo little more, if anything, at all, than the cost of the present ineffectual Territorial system, which necessitates the employment of large etaffs and the holding' of numerous local camps throughout, the country.