ON MILITARY MATTERS.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 2, 8 December 1911, Page 17

ON MILITARY MATTERS.

gi T) —As you have allowed Mr. Dowdalla second innings to state his case, I feel certain you will extend the same privilege to mc. He rightly states the onus of proof rests on him, ana then goes on to prove nothing, only how little lie really knows about tihe subject he is writing on. We are told that the labor market is already overcrowded, when these men are cast adrift from the colours, so if that means anything it is this —when these men, or a portion of them, obtain employment, a similar number now employed must fall into the ranks of the unemployed. Mr. Dowdall must know that these men are recruited from all sections of the community, a great many never having followed any settled occupation previous to joining, and it is the bulk of these who revert to human driftwood (which they would probably have been in any case), not us arrcsult of their army training, but in consequence of the insane social system which at present exists. I tlii'.ik we are all prepared to admit that travelling is the best method of education available 1 , consequently thes? rtJ-c'i 'have the of hecomi -:i r t_,r.>" :«v--- n. ihi.'i.' viutva- and more cosmo-

politan in their characters, than their stay-at-home brothers. It seems the individuals I mentioned , are not to be accepted as proofs of my • contentions, so we must go further afield and deal with it from a national. standpoint, and now I contend that the workers of the conscription countries of France and Germany are streets ahead of the -workers of Britain in their social organisations, and should it ever become necessary to gain reforms by force, these two nations will lead. Britain by decades, as a direct resultof their universal military training. Note method of resistance by strikers - in the champagne province, France, also method of British strikers recently against military. In referanoe to Devonport and Plymouth, our friend forgets that this is also one of the three great naval bases and consequently is the for about one-third of the total strength of the British. Navy. These' ''irieu will be sent to its hospitals from all parts of the world in cases of serious or prolonged illness. Also, tlie military hospitals of Devonport and Plymouth will be utilised to their titmost, not only for the troops stationed there, but for invalids from all parts of the world, owing to their geographical position and climatic conditions. Re venereal diseases. I admit thero is a vital sore here, but it is folly to lx cover it up, and pretend it doesn't exist ; much better to try and minimise it i . registration and periodical medical xamination. Re regulation. I •was Rvfectly correct in what I stated "(soni 15 years ago, at all events, and I ha\. no reason to believe this clause has ! en altered since) —it was < then abodied in one or both of the Army iicgulation and Admiralty Regulation. Re blind obedience. At Copenhagen 110 years ago, Nelson wa3 ordered to i jvitJb.djaw > ..his . shjps • he put the blind'"eye $6! the telescope, failed-to see! the signal, won a victory, and I believe was created a viscount for doing so. Off the coast of Tripoli some 17 years ago, Admiral Markham, blindly: carried outran iorder and sent the Victoria, with Admiral Tycon «and the bulk of his ship's company, to the bottom of the sea. For so doing Markham's career was blighted. Some three years ago Beresford, in command of the Home Fleet, gave an order; his junior Admiral declined to carry it out; asked'his reason, said ho considered it dangerous. Beresford 'considered it a perfectly .safe evolution, yet he approved of his subordinate's conduct; approval was also given on the floor of the House of Commons re this matter. In conclusion, I should like to state that I do not want to bolster up the military or naval systems. As a rui-z----ter of fact, I left the service by pur-. chase, somewhat disgusted with the whole tiling; what lam up .against is the unwarranted attack upon the individual members of it, both past, pre-, sent and future, and particularly so' when untruths are invented i\-r' the purpose of slandering the dead, and this was done in the reference to the Happy Valley Cemetery, Hong Kong. —Yours, etc., Huu+lv JOS. MELLING.