NO STANDING ARMY.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 August 1919, Page 4

NO STANDING ARMY.

CONSCRIPTION CRITICISED

NOT NEEDED IN NEW ZEA. LAND, SAYS SIR JOSEPH WARD.

Sir Joseph Ward, interviewed by a N.Z. “ Times ” representative, entered fully, especially in regard to the position in New Zealand, into his views on the question of conscription. Under the Peace Treaty, stated Sir

Joseph, Germany had been compelled

to abolish bar standing army, which had comprised no less than seven million men. Her army had been cut down to 200,0U0 trained men at once, and she would be compelled two years lienee to reduce it to 100,000 only. The reason why Germany was allowed to retain 200,000 men under arms at present was that the internal conditions of Germany, and the peace conditions that were being imposed upon her, made it necessary to prevent the seeds of Bolshevism taking root there. The limit of 200,000 men for the next two years was recommended by FieldMarslial Foch ; and the function of this force would he to maintain internal order. It would really he a

police force. Germany, to a very large extent, was the home of conscript armies, and the abolition of conscription in Germany and the progressive reduction of her armed forces, as he had indicated, was a tremendous change. Its effect on militarism was clear. Countries like France and

Italy would no longer feel that they were compelled to train great masses of their young people into lighting forces in order to protect themselves against such a country as Germany. When Russia—and that was only a matter of two or three years at the outside —ended the internecine war now going on there, she would be only too glad to adopt similar conditions in order to enable tlie country to progress and develop on the best possible basis. Therefore, the European situation, from the point of view of armament, would be changed enormously for the better. It was not necessary to say that the British people—-that was to say, the people of Great Britain and Ireland—had never been friends of conscription. Nor had any of the Overseas Dominions. These Dominions, until comparatively recent years, had not thought it necessary to train their youths in conscript armies. Such j armies did not suit the views and aspirations of the people of these young and growing countries. The j Americans had already decided that not more than 500,000 men were to j remain attached to the internal do- : fence forces of the United States. I That was to say, a, country of 110,000,000 people had decided not to arm more than half a million men. Such an army would not require anything in tlio shape of conscription. Therefore, with the exception of Japan, there was to-day practically no great Power in favour of conscription.

Another factor was the Leaguo of Nations, which would act for the prevention of wars in the years to come, and would be able, by means of ecouo-

mic pressure, to exercise force in

combination without the necessity for conscript armies. Sir Joseph Ward indicated that he attached enormous importance to the League of Nations. It was not, of course, a perfect organi-

Ration, but he believed that it con- : tained within it the g<.rm of an organisation that would ultimately exercise almost decisive authority in international affairs iu the preservation of the world’s peace. It was not, he said, a question of what the League of Nations was to-day. It was a question of what was going to transpire in the next five or ten years. The war had

already effected changes. There was a depleted Germauy, from the standpoint of the financial resources used to maintain a great array. Under the Peace Treaty it was not permissible for Germany to keep up such an army. Then there were the Bolksheviks throughout Russia, coupled with the fact of the State next door to bankruptcy, all of which pointed to the need for countries that were dep'eted in the ordinary acceptation of the term requiring a long period of peace in which to recuperate. Logically a long period of peace should come. 111 the natural course of events it muse come. . The Russians were, to a very large extent, in the position the Chinese were in during the Boxer War. A large, proportiou of the

Russians believed to-day, as a large proportion of Chinese then believed, that they were on the winning side. Bat, as a matter of fact, it was only a question of time when they would learn by the only means of information at present open to them, by word of mouth, and by the extension of education in the futare, that there are great nations outside of their own. And the necessity of living alongside these other nations arid securing opportunities lor themselves must make them realise that they were not dependent Upon wars, but that their

greatest interest was peace. “It is against human nature,” said Sir Joseph Ward, “to believe that after four and a half years of war another four and a half years of war should go on in the thickly populated countries, simply because they have a huge population with the poisonous find disastrous effects of war heavy upon them. lam of opinion that the Leae-ue of Nations will provide breath-

ing space during which the education of the people, and certainly the education of the youth of the nation for a period of years, will transform the world. The world has been taught that fighting is the only way towards the goal of advancement and develop-

ment in view of the map limitations and the boundaries of people who live under a different name and speak a different language. “In New Zealand (declared the Finance Minister) I am quite satisfied that oonscription is not necessary, and it should not be continued excepting to the extent that is needed to enable the youth of the country to fight for the freedom of the masses of the people throughout the British Em-

pire. Only to that extent is their justification for its continuance. In saying that I must add that I am quite satisfied that there is need for training ihe youths of the country and passing them on to reserves, without anything in the shape of a standing army or the nucleus of a standing army being necessary. I have not seen nor read (ho added) anything of what has transpired here with reference to the future policy of this country in that respect; but my own view is that w’e do not require to continue anything in the nature of the nucleus of a standing army. The training of our youth to be effective for the defence of their hearths and homes is quite a different matter from anything approaching to the maintenance of a standing army.”