OUR CITIZEN SOLDIERS. No Longer Flouted but Encouraged.

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 29, 19 January 1901, Page 6

OUR CITIZEN SOLDIERS. No Longer Flouted but Encouraged.

THE war in South Africa has had the effect of opening the eyes of the Seddon Government to the value of the volunteer organisation. Previously the ruling policy was to treat it as % costly plaything. It seemed to be taken for granted that the volunteers consisted of but two classes. The first and by far the largest class were presumed to be but children of a larger growth, bitten with a craze for playing at soldiers. Therefore, the best way to cure them would be to let them play the game as far as possiuie at their own expense. The other class were -those who showed proficiency as rifle marksmen, and they were looked upon, and frequently spoken of in Parliament, as mere pot-hunters, who only remained volunteers so long as there were money-prizes or trophies to be shot for. • • • or course, it was not politic for those in authority to plainly state these things. The volunteers had votes, and numerous sympathisers with votes also, and so, ttt a certain extent, they had to be humoured. But acts speak more loudly than words, and the acts of the Government in relation to the volunteers, for some years prior to the Boer war, seemed to indicate an intention to keep the volunteer organisation within narrow limits, and, by paring down Government capitation and allowances, to gradually let it into the position of supporting itself. The formation of corps outside the four metropolitan centres was sternly {discouraged, and the annual allowance to the New Zealand Rifle Association had almost to be dragged out of the Government. At any rate, it was granted with the same grudging reluctance with which one mignt give a coin to an importunate beggar whose bona fides was suspected, and frequently the grant was accompanied by the blunt intimation that it was to be the last. '• » ♦ But, what a difference now ! The outbreak of war brought to Mr. Se^iaon one of those happy inspirations which so often have prompted him to seize the psychological moment for a bold and masterful stroke of policy. He gave a lead to the colonies, and ushered Imperial federation into the realm of practical politics by his proffer of colonial troops to the Empire. That was the opportunity of our volunteers. Their response to tne Premier's patriotic appeal was eager and whole-hearted. Since then, on many a hard-fought field, they have earned their right to rank with the best troops of the Empire, and no longer can the idle taunt be made that they are mere carpet-soldiers. The war has taught many lessons, and one of the plainest i<= that the Colonial volunteer will hold his own on the field of battle with the trained regular. • • » It is a lesson that has impressed itself forciu upon Mr. Seddon. No longer are the volunteers merely tolerated. Their worth is recognised, and henceforth they are to receive [Continued on Page 14.}