The Dominion WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1919. AN INJUDICIOUS PROPOSAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 250, 16 July 1919, Page 6

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1919. AN INJUDICIOUS PROPOSAL

■ ®- . Although, his single-hearted desire to promote the best interests of the Dominion is not in doubt, the Minister of Defence is certainly ill-advised in the tentative proposal (hat Territorials in their first year —that is 'to say, on attaining the age of 18—should undergo four months' training in camp.' The proposal has given rise in some quarters to rather heated, criticism, but it will weigh more heavily with those who look at the matter dispassionately that the Government has distinctly failed thus far to make out a convincing case in support of the innovation it is asking the country to approve. The Minister has been at much pains to controvert the view that a sojourn of four months in camp would have a more or less demoralising 'effect upon lads of 18, and it cannot be said that he has attained any marked success in this direction. Admitting apparently that "the evil of lewd language and other such things" has been to some- extent in evidence in military training camps, he employs the somewhat astonishing argument that the evil did not .arise in camp, but was imported from outside. That is undeniably true, but the position which has to be faced is that such evils are moro likely to develop in a military training camp than in the average' conditions of civilian life. It has to be considered also that immature lads are less able .than their seniors to withstand evil and demoralising influences, particularly if they are exposed to such influences for' any length of time. _ The average young New Zealandcr is reared in a wholesome environment, under the constant play of many good influences for which no adequate substitute would, or could, be afforded in a camp organised primarily with a viow to military training. It is obvious that if the sole object aimed at were to promote the moral welfare of growing lads, the idea of massing them m such a camp for four months oil end would be at once overruled. What the Minister is really called upon to do is to show that the positive and negative disadvantages of his proposal from the' standpoint of moral training and development are outweighed by other considerations. This he has failed to do. While only one verdict is possible in regard to the questions of morals it involves, the four months' training proposal cannot be justified wholly or largely as a means of promoting the physical welfare of those to whom it would apply. The Minister is citing a familiar and disturbing fact when he points out that the examination of men for war service revealed a wide prevalence of physical defects, and undoubtedly measures aiming at the improvement of physical standards are called for. But the problem of making the manhood of the country physically fit will not be solved by concentrated attention at any one stage. If physical education and related measures are fostered henceforth as they should be in the schools ant! m the course of Senior Cadet training, it will not lift long before tlu: average youth is in sound physical rendition at the age of 18, and not more m need of particular attention at thai, ago than lie will be in somewhat later years. There is no reason why a State system aiming at the promotion of health and physical well-being should culminate with individuals as they attain the age of 18. While the Minister's proposal derives no 'support from such considerations as have been touched upon, it is open to manifest objections also in its essential character as a 1 projected development in Dofencc

Fblicy. It is first and foremost a Proposal to establish a more intensive system of Defence training than ias in force in this country before tjie war, and this in spite of the fact that the supreme, object of tho Allied hations ; in entering the war was to abolish militarism. Obviously something more than allegedly _ practical arguments based on considerations .'of military efficiency is needed to justify such a departure. If probably is true, as Silt Jajies Allen has contended, that if the British nation had been better prepared than it was in 1914 the war would have been shortened. It is certainly true thai the League of Nations cannot become a living force in international .affairs- unless power is available'to enforce its judgments should the need arise and that this imposes a -definite responsibility on New Zealand, as on all countries, great and small, which sincerely desire to maintain the peace of the world. It is certainly not implied, however, that thero must be an allround intensification of military preparation and increase of armaments. To adopt this view would be to a?sume that tlio League of Nations is already doomed and that the war was fought in vain. So far as the land defence of this country is concerned, -and taking due account cf its responsibility as a partner iu the League to uphold peace, it would be a reasonable policy to revert- generally to the Territorial system as it existed before the war, making, ot course, such detail iM&nges as war experience suggests. Without prejudice to the fact that the decrees of the League of Nations may yet have to lie enforced by physical power, it cannot be emphasised too strongly that i'eace will never be established securely in the world if nations place their chief reliance on military preparation. The war vividly illustrated tho penalties invited by .nations which enter the arena ill-prepared, but above-all it conclusively demonstrated that thore can be no peace in the world while nations arm to the teeth. Our lot is cast with nations which are pledged to abolish militarism, and are callcd upon, in pursuance of that ideal, and as an evidence of, their sincerity, to reduce armaments and limit military ..preparation to the minimum consistent with national safety. Sir Jajies Allen has said that he can never rest satisfied "unless our country is doing all that it can by preparation beforehand to equip its citizens for the defence of their country and the of principles of justice amongst nations should the necessity ever arise." Probably Sir James Allen doesjnot mean this generalisation to be taken literally. In their literal meaning as a demand for the maximum possible development of military preparation these words give expression to a policy which is neither consistent with the ideals which centre in the League of Nations, nor practical. There is no escape from the fact- that the democratic nations of the world are prevented by their constitution and infernal conditions frota going to extremes in military preparation, and on that as well as on nobler grounds are bound to content themselves with a much lower level of defencc preparation than is consistent with complete military efficiency. Under tho best conditions that can be hoped for, the process of disarmament will be gradual, and in this country no contentious question need arise as it proceeds. The elaborate military organisation which was created to meet war demands has served its purpose, and the country is under a deep debt of gratitude to Sir James Allen for his great services in conncction therewith. But all reasonable demands will now be met by reverting to the modest scheme of citizen training which.was in vogue before the war. Taking this rational course, the Dominion will at' once consult its own interests and co-operate worthily in the great world movement which aims at perpetuating peace less by the guarantee of armed force than _ by extending and consolidating international amity.