Volunteering in N.Z.

Patea Mail, 18 April 1882, Page 3

Volunteering in N.Z.

The Otago Times says : —ln the estima-i tion of some people, volunteering as carried on in New Zealand is a farce. We cannot say that is quite our opinion . Atthe same time we think it must be palpable to the most casual and most charitable observer that volunteering is not what it might be in this colony. Many allowances should be made, and many allowances -are" willinglymade by all save captious critics, whose criticisms need not be heeded. But to say that our colonial volunteering is; far from what it might be ; that, in fact, it possesses characteristics that are, discreditable to it, is not necessarily to be: captious. In a young country like this,' where'almost-all men are still erigagsd: in the rough work of'taming the wilder-; news, in establisbing homes and conn ec t i ons, the existence, of almost any kind of volunteer force is no doubt creditable to the community. But if a thing is worth doing at all it is worth doing well, and if certain members of the community are public spirited enough to join the volunteei’force, the rest, of the community is not unreasonable in requiring them to come up to; the highest standard of volunteer work. In the light of common sense this would be: reasonable under any circumstances, but in view of the fact that public money is contributed towards the' maintenance of the volunteer force it becomes an—unassailable right. ; t ? Nothing we think tends to make .volunteering farcical in the eyes of many more : than the annual .reviews that are ixbw the : ' .vogue. The ostensible objects, of: these reviews is to teach, the volunteers to be orderly and effective in large bodies. So; far they have demonstrated nothing, save; that our volunteers have considerable capacity for behaving in a disorderly manner and acting ineffectively when massed together. The Invercargill review showed this to some extent, the Christ* church. review made it painfully patent to the whole colony, axxd the Oamaru review did not disclose much to neutralise the memories .of its predecessors. And it would, we think, be unreasonable to expect the forthcoming, review at Dunedin to be a striking improvement on those we have mentioned, for the changes ;to imake it so have not been effected in the meantime. •

Before Volunteering in New Zealand can become what it should be, four things! in our opinion should be done. Greater discrimination than has hitherto been exercised in the enrolment of .members of the various corps. Ifmonc but thoroughly manly young fellows were admitted, to the force, the. force would: rise in the scale of military efficiency much more quickly than it has done hitherto. But when weedy specimens of, humanity,- not only as , regards physique, but also as regards character and intelligence, are so freely accepted as Volunteers, we connot wonder that the force as a-whole remains in a backward state of efficiency, or that, wherever and whenever a review is held, it should be brought into disrepute by acts of rowdyism and acts of ignominious meanness—such as ’wilful neglect to pay their debts—on the part of uniformed larrikins. Then officers require,to be more thoroughly trained, thah they have ever yet been, and their official relation to each other needs to be defined with the utmost strictness.. Unless, this be done we cannot expect the force to-be efficiently utilised, or what is attempted carried out with becoming thoroughness. Besides these reforms all annual re'views •hould be matters of business and not of pleasure, and with this end in view

they should he held in some country place altogether remote from towns. We think, too, that instead of the capitation sytsem, the Volunteers should be completely equipped by the Government, and that all their outfit should be retained as the permanent property of the country. It would no doubt be an admirable thing if our volunteers supported themselves with the aid of the. voluntary contributions of the public, but we are afraid that an attempt to do this would be found to be as yet practically incompatible with the reason-; able efficiency of the force. But we think it stands toreason that if none but boys . and youths and young men of character were accepted as cadets and volunteers ; if, the officers' were properly drilled and their authority strictly defined, and not lees strictly enforced ; • if the annual reviews were held in convenient country places, and the outfits of volunteers were . supplied and retained by the Government, the force, as a military organisation, would soon become a credit to its members and to the country. But, of course,-if .the country’s deliberate desire is that the force should eventually become a laughing ;Btock. to. gods and men, a permanent free-and-easy shooting association for all and sundry, and be maintained in perpetuity as a means of spending a little money and making a great fuss in all towns in succession—then things, will be kept religious!}’’ as they are, and no changes; such as we suggest, will be effected under any circumstances.