COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 25, 25 August 1911, Page 16

COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING.

The following letter was rejected by" the paper to which it was sent:— Sir, —In reading a letter in your paper signed "One of the Boys," re military training, I was pleased to see that he and his friends are proud to do their duty under the new Defence Act. That is very praiseworthy; but does he not see that ,when the Defence Department resorted to threats of fines and imprisonment in .order to bet an army together, they were taking it for granted that he had no sense of duty. If they had thought he had, they would have called for volunteers, and would have dispensed with threats. Had they done so,;they would possibly have got as many, for some of those that have, not got to serve now might have come along if it had been put to them in the proper manner. At any rate, all this wordy warfare would have been avoided. Your -correspondent also points out that the benefit the country will reap in years to come will far outweigh the expense. Conscription may benefit New Zealand in the future, but it certainly has • not benefited other nations that ho re adopted it. Take France, for example. She has, I believe, fallen-from a sec-ond-class Power to a fourth. We know that Germany has a large ,army in point of numbers, and "Veil l trained, but of what use would that be in war time if some of them are trained against their will. , England.'is one of the few that;-.has not--got conscription, but if "she had > would she hold the position world that she does to-day? It Is doubtful, for we «re told that one volunteer is equal to three pressed men..;' • ; % . ,£ ■'' 'i