TRAINING FOR WAR

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 423, 3 August 1928, Page 1

TRAINING FOR WAR

MR. LEE’S CRUSADE AGAINST MILITARISM REPEAL BILL REJECTED (THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter.) "WELLINGTON, Thursday. Himself a returned soldier, maimed in the war, Mr. J. A. Lee (Auckland East) is a persistent advocate of the abolition of compulsory military service. As weaknesses in the existing system, Mr. Lee cited the fact that men of limited stature were not now eligible for training, -while the physical training it was said to confer was not now conferred on those who needed it most. “We should spend the money, for preference,” said Mr. Lee, “on organised physical training. The compulsory service system is on the run, and there is an outcry welling up throughout the country against the expenditure.” SCHOOL OF DISCIPLINE Defending the system, the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. J. Rolleston, said it was wrong to imply that the system was only for physical training. The teaching of discipline and obedience was an important part of its work, and it would be regrettable if there were no means of giving that teaching. The young men themselves, ho considered, did not as a whole resent military service, but regarded it as something the country had a right to demand in return for citizensTiip. New Zealand’s expenditure on defence, exclusive of naval defence, was already lower than that of most other parts of the Empire. “I do think.” said the Minister, “that the hon. gentleman who is in charge of the Bill is optimistic in thinking he is making converts. I have listened in vain for anything constructive in his speech.” FORLORN HOPE Though obviously a forlorn hope, the Bill was kept before the House all the afternoon. Mr, G. W. Forbes, Mr. H. T. Armstrong, Mr. .P. Fraser, and Mr. V. H. Potter were among those who kept the debate going. Mr. Armstrong stated that compulsory military service in New Zealand had proved a ghastly failure, and should be abolished. Mr. V. H., Potter dealt particularly with the charge that the boys in the military camps were unhappy, “Leave the boys alone,” lie said, “and they get on all right.” Dreqdful pictures of the results of the use of gas in the next war were pointed out by Labour members during the debate in the evening. Great cities, they predicted, would be Wiped out by one visit from a fleet of gasladen airplanes. With these horrible prophesies, Mr. F. Waite disagreed. Speaking as one with an experience of gas warfare, he said that gas warfare was humane compared with other methods employed. Many soldiers preferred gas to shells. War experience showed that recovery from gas was much more frequent than from shell wounds. Nevertheless men should not be sent away in future without full anti-gas equipment. Mr. H. G. R. Mason: Then military training is useless? Mr. Waite: Well it would be useless to train some people for Parliament. Mr. IT. E. Holland, in the course of the discussion, denied that Labour had raised military-service repeal as an election cry. The second reading was defeated by 50 votes to 10.