Volunteering For Soudan.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 93, 23 March 1885, Page 2

Volunteering For Soudan.

[asmodeus N.Z. Mail.] * ' ** ; There has ; been' general • tbttfifcfc. ing for boudan, and some people hare been sat upo^i by the Press and iQbV^ ernment. lam strongly, of opinion •that the Government sitting waß>oon.i! ducted upon the ! best principles of: common, sense. If New.ZettJanddoes eqmp a : force for* the Softa'an itwiltf be, I should think,fptaced<inf thoroughly competent^ hands' fqnlyj and'rioMi*' those of fledglings who cackle the loudest at the onset. As fofitbV Press criticisms, We should all remember that youth is very often associated with intense enthn'siaWa&l love of adventure, and is apt to regard every field at a distanced bright? green. •■« Ah me, the - days when I was yonng," as one ot Shakespeare's worthiesieicl^nwdi wMSa goodman^ besides him since then. There are few who quite forget :th©. I spring ; titaj& of life, but J am. i afraid too many do forget they once were young, and so fail to make fittingf allowance for^th* glad heartedness, the exnberant vitality; that so ; freqiieritiy - barries young folk beyond the limiteofstriotdiscretion. Well^ let /em beciariei say I ; they'll come to their senses m time, and meanwhile; .the elder parties are not to be too hard upon 'em. But is it not a pity that &c earnestness of these %htiag- chips of New Zealand cannot be^urned into a profitable local channel? The Press of the colony is right : m stigmatising as absurd the proposition to abstract from bur meagre ptijpiiiatiefc atfo? S&. fenceless country, any men whatever for service i£ the want every man W home purpose-that is,' to contribute to .revenue and help to fight m case of need, and there is no telling how sbon |h)t^eed^va^s^. The question of home ofefenceisoe^ coming more pressing every, year. Complicatiotis, polittcai'^d ! bther/ seenvto bealways .orogpingjUn ,ih jkhe older parts of the world,' and iw^'certain to involve "the-coionies sooner or later. And then . will be ( the time to show the empire>f what soMofstoff we are made, by dispensing'with as much outside help as possible.- and relying on^oni-selves:, "yet 'almost as helpless as a' naked mau, here we are,, or at least som^pf , n 9 are, posing like noodles m tne eyesof the world, clamoring to be led-to fight our mother's battles several ■ thousand miles away, and leaving pur own shores to be defended by the Lord knows who. No, no, it will be quite time enough t<^ draft off a contingent for foreign B&x\Bg, when our organisation for Home "defenoe has been perfected ■ "? ".- , • "■■