The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1926. COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12604, 15 November 1926, Page 6

The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1926. COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING

The uose for compulsory training is simple. First, it is the duty of every citizen to defend his country in case of need; secondly, to send the citizens when doing their duty into the field of war without knowledge of their weapons, and without the disciplined mobility of mass action, without which they would be a helpless mob, would be equivalent to murder, and would be, of course, a vain defence. The Presbyterian General Assembly passed, on Friday last, a resolution for the abolition of compulsory military training in New Zealand. In this the Assembly showed tne zeal against war which is commendable in all Christians. That zeal is spreading under the influence of the League of Nations. The League was founded for the purpose of eventually putting an end to war, substituting international appeal to reason for the appeal of the sword. This is the first body of men in the world’s history set up to attend especially to the business of peace. It is the first and only authority supplied with power to do its duty effectively. The General Assembly is right, in supporting the League of Nations. In its zeal against war, and in its support of the League of Nations, the Assembly deserves universal support, and has it. Zeal is a valuable quality. But the experience of all the ages of the world has shown that it is most valuable when accompanied by discretion. The question at once arises, whether the zeal embodied in the Assembly’s resolution was guided by due discretion. A strong section of the Assembly answered that question in the negative by its hostile vote. Agreeing cordially with that minority, we feel compelled to support them. At the same time, we claim that the founder of the League of Nations, the late President Wilson, practically and fully agreednwith the minority. This he did with his declaration that the League, before it could have any influence, must obtain the support of the world’s public opinion. The League’s founder meant, of course, that the establishment of permanent peace by international agreement is. a thing of time, and propaganda, and of the League’s own general, careful, and able gradual work towards eventual success. To make a sudden short-cut would be the outrunning of discretion by zeal. Time has helped the League with six years of fair general progress towards success. During those years there has been much useful propaganda; and. above all, the League has settled several knotty problems which in the bad old days would have caused bloodshed without settlement. Many such problems remain. Moreover, new problems are rising. Among the latter is the changing condition of the Pacific section of the world; there is the problem of the Soviet revolutionary aspirations; there is the problem of Islam; and there is the problem of the white and yellow nations. Out of these problems, with the strong urge of the human element in all of them, some trouble of war may at any moment arise, despite the most careful, sensible, and just handling of the League of Nations, and the growing recognition of its usefulness and capacity. For this reason the League, while not relaxing its efforts to bring about disarmament by agreement, is content to work gradually towards that most desirable end. The League recognises that, the nations, while abandoning aggressive ideas, must conserve some means of defence. To ask New Zealand to abolish its main defensive power, which is based on compulsory training, at a stroke, is certainly carrying anti-war zeal beyond the bounds of sorely-tried discretion.