CAMP LIFE ATTACKED.

Taihape Daily Times, 20 June 1919, Page 6

CAMP LIFE ATTACKED.

‘DISCUSSION BY CLERGY. SOME" VIOLENT CRITICISM. ', MORALS OF THE SOLDIER. CHRISTCHURCH, June 18. 1 At last. night's meeting of the Coun- } eil of Churches, at which resolutions were carried strongly condemning Sir Jzmies Allen ’s proposed scheme of four months’ camp for territorials, the Rev. J. J. North said the Mi-nisters proposal "seemed to suggest that there would be :1 very heavy acceleration of military expenditure, and the segregation of the youth of the country in training camps for four months-. :I‘llat did not look like the coming of the milleniuni. The League of Nations should receive the support of all Christians, because it provided for the stoppage of preparation; that would impose further heavy burdens. He viewed with extreme detestation stateuients by the Minister and by Professor Z\lacl\lillian Brown, as likely to raise an extreme antiAsiatie. feeling. The practice of anti-

cipating invasions was a sure way to bring them about. The present moment i was the supreme moment for the Em-" pire to show.the world that it would give all its attention to industrial_ affairs, and not to opening the bleeding wounds made by the recent war. - HIGH SCHOOL BOYS CRI’I‘IC"I‘.SED. The tone of the High School Boys" training camp at Trenthani. he continuged, was -as morally rotten as the tone 10f a camp could be. He had relatives connected with a family of some standling in a southern city, and he had lbcen in rzonimunieation with -a prominlent, man, whose son was sent to the iearnp. -One of the boys, he had in mind was 13 years of age, the other ‘was 1-1. They had returned home perfectly shocked and appalled at the tone of the camp, at the “sensuous slime,” and at the apparent abandonment of all moral rest.l‘,al‘nt‘. Pfb'wo.vm: well‘ intended connnanders: nright be. it seemed almost impossible to segt'eg‘ate bO_\'.\‘ for a long time in camps, where they were removed foam home ‘love and the inflnenee of women, without. put‘ting them to 21 moral strain that no

young mm), except for tl-enmndotlsly urgenf reasons, :=.‘nould be called upon to stand. The proposal that thn lwys of the country at 18 yo.‘ll_'s‘ sf -.1530 .~:h0u1d ‘no 'l<r>pt in nlilil'm‘j\' <'"‘.mps for fun“ mr'n‘Lhs. bcca*.ls.r 3 cf .T:~.pc~.ro.~:o %.w2~‘Zl. v-'ag.; one flaixf should be rc.<‘.istoc‘:. am"- that wws pnri‘ of flfirn scheme "the Gov(":m‘.!r:nt had brought down.

The Rev. J. K. .~\,l'eher said it. \'\'v:l.\‘ 4 hardly manly to blame the German l nation e.\:elusi\'el_v for militarism. * Ml’ G. H. I'l:Z1lli5€1l(l that if tlieife was to be defence of the eountry there must be. uatlequate training of the youth of the country. TI-IE W-\R'l‘l;‘.[E CAMPSI. The Rev. J. K. Archer said that the proposal to place boys in 3. rhilital'y rt-tziup was an appalling»; one. He was in a camp through which 30,000 or 140.000 men had passed. nearly all over E9O years Of age. and ziinong them there I were a. number of In-al-ried men. He was ‘astonished and '.<,hoCl{(‘(l at the moral tone of the camp, and he believed that few men went tlifough it without having their morals affected. The oflieers did not seem to wisli that there should be a. moral tone in it. He accused men responsible for part of the training of using the foulest language, and slid that if boys 18 years of «age were sent into such an afinrosphere as that of the camp. to which lle referred for four months it would be a disaster to the norintry. Members «of the Council as milliS’£ol"S ‘find Ch.‘ristian men should make a Very energetic protest. They Should have it guarantee—it should be Q 1133 9353’ “C 0 secure one-——from the military authorities that" the moral tone 0f the camps would be wholesome. S‘3TB'93llt'M'aj<or E. C. Risely, Salvation Army, said that the scheme should "" -"‘-?T>o.°e(l 9t every turn. ‘V’ F W T‘T"l‘l ”""‘ "V" e~:'.ulg’~~i \'.'n~.vl-‘-or-nfzziiz Y.L\I.C.A... dftieers.

7-‘l\lr Huddlestone said the whole :Isclzelne was a farce. 1 UNPOPULARITY OF CHURCHES. L Mr. John Hmnmett said the spirit ]and the training of the camps were of ‘the devil. His son told him that the _ll=anguage of some. of the ofiicers was l disgraceful and barbarous. Many rolls lof honour had been unveiled, but few returned soldiers entered the churches. ‘ The Rev. Percy Knight said that 1 when the mischief went on in the camps ‘the chaplains could not get near the lsoldiers. The influence of the oflicers ‘and non-commissioned officers, in f-act, :the Whole environment of camp life, he was sorry to say, was not edifying. ? Men whom he could completely rely on had spoken to him of their experiences. fLevel-headed, good, honest men had ltold him that in spite of all precauTtions that could be taken the spirit of loamp life was utterly bad. He would E not send his young son to a place where the temptation to evil might be greater ’ than the lad could resist. i CAMP‘ LIFE IN AUSTRALIA. { The Rev. J. .T. Fr9.uklin said that he s had had Something to do with camp life in Australia. The‘ whole thing was zllfisolutely revolting. i The Rev. J. H. Hooper said that it wmr. a cu"sed business. He dreaded L the effect of 21 military camp 011 his ._ young son’s character. He felt that - he wculd sooner put him under the =:.<,rrc~l~.ml——tlmt was the honest truth. . Tlxo proposal was'the most. iniquitions thir~_§: that could be submitted to - a nation.